The Everyday Life of the Atwoods
by ggfan10
Summary: A RT story about their life in Berkeley. COMPLETED.
1. Baby Emily

This story is meant to be a sequel to my other story 'Insecurities' about Taylor and Ryan from the OC, so you can read that one if you want to have some more background information about the story but it's not really necessary as I'll pretty much tell you everything in this story.

Okay, basically Ryan and Taylor have been married for about 2 years now and have just had a baby girl, Emily Paige Atwood.

This story will be about events in Ryan and Taylor's lives with mention of other OC characters, e.g Seth, Summer, Sandy, Kirsten, Julie, because an OC story wouldn't really be complete without them. The events will jump forward in time, maybe a few months, weeks etc.

Anyway, on with the story...

* * *

**Year: 2015**

_Ryan and Taylor's Bedroom - 2am_

Ryan and Taylor were both fast asleep in bed, when a baby's cries blasted from the baby monitor on the bedside table.

Taylor looked over at the clock radio and groaned. She looked over at her husband who was still asleep, then began to shake him, "Ryan, Ryan wake up!" she whispered.

"What's going on?" Ryan asked sleepily as he woke up. Hearing Emily's cries he continued, "Oh, that."

"Honey can you go get Emily please?" Taylor begged. "I got her last time, and I was up with her all last night, remember?"

"Uh, do I have to?" he groaned, shoving his pillow over his head in attempt to block out the noise Emily was making, as well as Taylor's voice. "Let's just leave her, she'll fall back asleep eventually."

Taylor frowned, then grabbed the pillow off Ryan's head.

"Hey, what did you do that for?" Ryan asked, playfully trying to snatch the pillow back off his wife, who was to quick for him.

"Ryan, please just go get Emily," Taylor asked in a calm voice. "Please, please, please, please?"

"Okay," Ryan gave in.

"Thanks honey, I love you," she smiled, giving him a kiss.

"I love you too," he replied, getting out of bed, "but you're getting her next time."

He then left the room. Taylor rolled her eyes with a smile, then snuggled back under the covers of her bed.

* * *

_Emily's Bedroom_

Ryan entered his daughters room and approached the crib where the crying baby lay.

"What's wrong Em?" Ryan asked, picking her up. "Are you hungry? Do you need a new diaper?" -Ryan checked Emily's diaper- "No? Okay, come on, talk to me, Daddy needs a little help here," of course he got no response but continued talking to the baby. "Not very talkative today are we? You probably get that from me, cos if you were like your mother you would have been born talking."

Ryan glanced over at the armchair in the corner of the nursery and decided to sit down. He looked down at the baby in his arms who's big blue eyes were open wide and watching her father curiously. Ryan smiled, "You're not sleepy? No...neither am I. Well, actually I am, but I'd rather be sitting here with you."

Seeing that Emily was still awake and listening eagerly, Ryan continued talking, "You know, I'm not really very good at this Dad stuff yet so you're gonna have to teach me all your little tricks and noises you seem to like so much."

Ryan just watched his daughter for a moment. The newborn's eyes were slowly becoming less alert and starting to close as she let out a small quiet yawn, "Now you're getting tired huh?" he whispered with a smile.

"Honey," said Taylor, who was leaning against the doorframe smiling. "You do realize you're trying to have a conversation with a new born?"

Ryan looked up and smiled at his wife, "Well I figured if Emily's like you, that she may be an early talker."

"If she's like me, I'd give the talking another month or so, 2 months max," she replied, coming into the room and sitting on the arm of the arm chair Ryan was sitting on.

"Well if Emily's like me, expect to be waiting until she's at least 18 for actual words to come out," Ryan nodded, "until then, she'll probably communicate in a series of grunts and looks."

"You shouldn't have a problem with that," Taylor teased. "You may have to translate for me. Speaking of translating, I was thinking that when Emily's older, I can start teaching her a bit of French. It's always good to know a foreign language you know. Maybe I can even start teaching you some French?"

Ryan grinned, "Bonjour?" he replied with absolutely no hint of a French accent.

"Uh don't worry honey, we can work on that," she laughed, patting him on the back. "By the time I'm finished with you, you'll be as French as a croissant."

"Uh, I think I'll pass. I'm not very good at speaking English, I'd hate to see what I'd be like at French," Ryan grimaced at the thought. "As for Emily, I think it would be good for her to know another language. Just don't go over the top with it Tay."

"Me? Over the top? Never!" she replied sarcastically, leaning in and giving Ryan a kiss.

"So, how come you're up?" he asked. "I thought you were tired."

"I am, but I heard you in here talking to Emily and I thought I'd come and see what you were talking about," she replied.

"Eavesdropping are we?" Ryan questioned his wife, raising one eyebrow.

"Maybe..." Taylor started. "I am very good at that. What were you talking about anyway?"

"Nope, I can't tell you," he replied, shaking his head.

"Oh, why not?"

"It's secret Daddy-Daughter business that Mommy can't find out about," Ryan grinned.

"Well it looks like your conversation's over, she's asleep," Taylor whispered, gesturing to the baby. "I think she just wanted a hug from her Daddy."

Ryan carefully stood up from the arm chair and kissed Emily, then gently placed her back in her crib, "Good night Em."

"You're a natural with babies," Taylor commented, joining Ryan at the side of their daughter's crib. "I wish it came that easily to me."

"What?" he replied. "You're great with her, I'm the one that doesn't have a clue what I'm doing."

"Oh really? Cos you look like a pro to me," she smiled, looking down at a sleeping Emily. "You're so cute and gentle with her."

"Hm...I'm guessing this isn't the first time you've watched me with Emily?" suggested Ryan.

"Of course it's not," Taylor rolled her eyes. "I've been putting my excellent stalker skills to good use."

"You have?" he smiled, giving Taylor a gentle kiss on the lips.

"Uh huh..." she nodded. "So, why don't we go to bed and try to get some sleep?"

"Great idea," Ryan agreed, taking Taylor's hand as they started walking out of the nursery. As they reached the door, Emily suddenly started crying again.

"Oh no..." Taylor groaned.

"It's your turn," Ryan grinned cheekily, before running out of the room.

Taylor rolled her eyes,"Coward!" she called out after him, then went back over to the crib to retrieve her baby.

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**This was just a quick chapter to start off. The next chapter will be longer and more dramatic. Please review and tell me what you think**


	2. Surprises

**Here's the next chapter. I really like this one so I hope you like it too.**

* * *

**10 months later**

_Ryan's Office - 5:30pm_

Ryan was in his office of his architectural company 'Atwood and Co.', on the phone with a client.

"Yes Mr Johnson, we have you're plans ready. I've had my best team of architects working on them for you, and I promise, you'll be impressed," Ryan said into the phone. He paused for a moment to hear the client's reply then replied, "Okay sounds great, I'll see you then. Bye."

Just as he hung up the phone, it rang again. Ryan sighed, and picked up the phone again, "Mr Atwood, I have your wife on line 1," said the secretary.

"Thanks Jenny put her on," he replied.

"Okay Mr Atwood, one moment."

A few seconds later, Taylor's voice came through the telephone, "Hello?"

"Hey honey, what's wrong?" Ryan asked.

"Nothings wrong," she replied, "I just wanted to know when you're coming home."

"Uh, I'll probably be home in around..." he thought for a moment, looking down at his watch, "Half an hour."

"Okay sweetie, I'll see you then," Taylor chimed happily. Ryan could tell she probably had one of those big goofy smiles on her face that he loved.

"I love you," he replied.

"I love-" she started, but got distracted and exclaimed. "Emily don't stick your finger in Flapjacks' cage!"

A moment later Ryan heard the baby crying. "Everything okay?" he asked, worried about what had happened.

"Flapjacks bit Emily and she's crying," Taylor explained. Ryan then heard shuffling noises which he guessed were Taylor picking Emily up. "It's okay baby, you're alright," Taylor soothed the baby. "Ryan, I've got to go, I'll talk to you soon."

"Wait!" Ryan exclaimed in alarm. "Is Emily okay? She doesn't look sick does she? She could have gotten rabies or something. Is she pale? Cold? Maybe you should take her to the hospit-"

"Sweetie she's fine, it wasn't even a hard bite," she interupted. "Hurry home okay? I love you, bye."

Ryan sighed, "Okay, bye," then hung up the phone.

Ryan yawned as he started packing up his briefcase it had been a long day of meetings and phone calls at the office, as well as a few on site checks around the Berkley area, and all he wanted to do was go home to his family.

Ryan was about to open the door of his office and leave when the phone rang again, for the third time in the last 10 minutes. He groaned, then reluctantly went and answered with a annoyed, "Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you," started Jenny, "But you're mother's on the phone."

"Uh, okay," Ryan replied, sitting back down in his office chair. "You can go home now by the way Jenny. Thanks."

"Okay thank you, Mr Atwood" she answered.

As soon as the line was connected, Ryan spoke into the phone, "Hey Kirsten, how are you?"

"Kirsten?" the person on the other line questioned.

"Wait a minute, Mom?" he asked, sitting forward in his chair in alarm. On the other end of the phone line was his biological mother, Dawn.

"Yeah it's me," Dawn replied. "Why did you think I was Kirsten?"

"Because she usually tells my secretary she's my mother so I just assumed it was her..." Ryan started. "Uh, why are you calling me? We havent spoken in almost 10 years."

"I know sweetie," she sighed. "That's exactly why I'm calling, I want to catch up. Can you come visit me in Albuquerque?"

"Uh, I don't think I can go over there," Ryan replied awkwardly. "It's not that I don't want to, I just have responsibilities here."

"Can't you take a few days off work?" Dawn asked, hoping to change her son's mind.

"Oh it's not work, I can take a few days off but if I came to see you I'd have to bring the whole family."

"You want to bring Sandy, Kirsten and Seth too?" she asked, slightly confused.

"No, not the Cohens," Ryan replied with a slight laugh. "My wife, Taylor and our daughter Emily."

"You have a wife and daughter?" She asked, sounding very surprised. "Well you can bring them too, how old is Emily?"

"She's almost 11 months," he told her. "It would probably be easier if you came here, considering there's only 1 of you and 3 of us."

"Actually there's 2 of us," Dawn corrected him.

"Two?" Ryan questioned, slightly concerned.

"Me and my husband Greg," she explained. "He's amazing, I really think you'll like him."

"Great, I can't wait to meet him," Ryan replied, frowning worriedly.

"So when do you want us to come?" asked Dawn.

"Uh, I'm not sure," he told her. "I'm gonna have to talk to Taylor, but I'll call you later on. What's your number?"

Dawn told him the number and Ryan wrote it down then he asked, "How did you get my work number anyway?"

"I was thinking about you a lot lately, I've always thought about you a lot," Dawn explained. "Then I realized I still had Sandy's mobile number, so I called him and asked about you and he gave me your number."

"Oh, okay," Ryan replied, not really knowing what to say next.

There was an awkward silence before Dawn spoke up, "So, I'll talk to you later?"

"Uh, yeah, bye," he replied awkwardly, then hung up the phone and said to himself, "Well, that was unexpected."

* * *

_Ryan and Taylor's House - 6:15pm_

Ryan arrived home from the office a little late after his phone call with his mother.

When he entered the house, he left his briefcase and laptop in the study, then went into the kitchen where Taylor was making dinner and trying to feed Emily, who was in her high chair, her baby food at the same time. The baby seemed to have completely forgotten about her incident with the family pet earlier.

Taylor's face lit up when she saw her husband enter the room, "Ryan, you're home!"

Emily's face also lit up the same way and she yelled out, "Dada!"

"Hey," Ryan smiled, giving Taylor a quick kiss. He then leant down and gave Emily a kiss on the forehead, "What's this I hear about Flapjacks attacking you? I may have to punch him for hurting my baby," Ryan joked.

Emily giggled, and started wiggling around in the high chair, trying to get out. Frustrated, the baby held up her arms and squealed, "Ot!"

Ryan guess that was baby talk for 'out' so he removed the high chair tray, then lifted Emily out of the chair and gave her a hug. He then turned to his wife, "Oh sorry, were you still feeding her?"

"Don't worry, she's eaten most of it," replied Taylor, picking up the almost empty bowl of baby food, then rinsing it and setting it down in the sink. "Flapjacks didn't attack her Ryan, Emily was just...curious I guess, and stuck her finger in his cage. Then Flapjacks, being just a curious decided to see if her finger was edible." She shrugged.

"She could have gotten a disease from that," Ryan glared at his wife. "I don't think its a very good idea to have Flapjacks around at the moment. Maybe we should give him back to Summer and Seth for now, at least until Emily's a little older."

"Sweetie don't be silly. It's a rabbit, not a vicious beast!" Taylor giggled then continued, "And besides, do you really think Summer's gonna want another rabbit? You know with the new baby coming and all." Summer was 7 months pregnant with her and Seth's second child, which they found out was a boy.

"Have you seen what dogs can do to little innocent children?" Ryan continued his paranoid Daddy speech. "Rabbits can easily do the same." -Taylor gave her husband a look- "Okay I'm exhaggerating a little, but I'm just looking out for my little princess here," he replied, giving Emily a kiss on the cheek. "So anyway, what's for dinner?"

"Pasta, spaghetti bolagnaise actually," she replied, turning off the stove. "Uh, can you start serving Ryan? I'll take Emily."

"Aw, but I haven't seen her all day," Ryan whined with a grin, hugging his daughter to his chest gently.

Taylor smiled, "Fine, I'll serve. Just put Emily in her playpen so we can eat."

A few minutes later, Taylor and Ryan were seated at the table eating dinner, while Emily was nearby in her playpen, playing and occassionally looking up to watch her parents.

The room was unusually silent, with both Ryan and Taylor seeming to be in deep thought.

In unison, they both announced, "I need to talk to you."

"Uh, you go first," Taylor smiled, gesturing to Ryan.

"Okay, you won't believe who called me today," he started.

"Who?" Taylor asked.

"My mom, my real mom," Ryan replied.

"The one you haven't spoken to in 10 years?" she questioned worriedly.

"Yep, strange huh?"

"What did she say?"

"She wants us to come see us," Ryan explained. "If it's okay with you."

"Of course it's okay," Taylor smiled. "I'd love to meet her."

"Really? You would?" he asked with a frown.

"Yeah...is that a bad thing?" she asked with a confused look on her face. "Don't you want to see your Mom again?"

"To be honest, I don't know," Ryan sighed. "She hasn't bothered to make contact with me all this time and suddenly she calls and wants to be apart of my life again?"

"No offense, but you haven't exactly bothered to contact her either," Taylor pointed out.

"I know," he replied. "But the reason I'm so concerned is that she said she has a new husband."

"Honey, don't assume the worst," Taylor told her husband, taking his hand. "He could be a really nice guy, don't judge him before you meet him."

"You don't know my mother like I do Taylor," Ryan sighed. "She's always picks the wrong guys."

Taylor glared at him, "Ryan, give the poor woman a chance here. She's trying to do the right thing and make contact with you again, be happy. I would love it if my Dad tried to contact me but I doubt that's going to happen, so consider yourself lucky."

"You're right, I know," he rolled his eyes. "I should give both of them a chance."

"Nice to see you're listening to me for once," Taylor grinned. "So what are you gonna do?"

Ryan thought for a moment. "I guess they can come here for a couple of days," he decided.

"Good decision," Taylor nodded with a smile. "They can come in two weeks time."

"Okay. Anyway, what did you want to talk to me about?" Ryan asked, picking up one of Emily's stuffed toys off the floor and setting it on the table.

"What?" she looked up from her pasta.

"You said you had to talk to me about something..." he replied, raising one eyebrow.

"Oh right, yeah I-I-I do have to tell you something," Taylor stuttered nervously. "I'm just not sure how you're going to react."

Ryan frowned and turned around in his seat to face his wife, "Is something wrong Taylor?"

"No, no, nothing's wrong," she replied. "Just...uh...different."

Ryan stared at her blankly, "Okay... so what is it?"

"I...uh," Taylor started. Ryan looked at her worriedly. "I-I...could really go for some more pasta." She stood up and went into the kitchen.

Ryan looked down at Taylors untouched bowl of pasta and followed her into the kitchen, "Taylor?"

"More pasta?" she asked, walking past him with a bowl of spaghetti.

"Honey, what's going on?" Ryan asked, as he followed her back to the table.

"I wanted more pasta," Taylor shrugged, sitting back down at the table.

"No," Ryan replied seriously, "what's really going on?"

Taylor sighed, "You really want to know?"

"Yes, I do. You're my wife and I love you," he nodded, sitting back down at the table "and when you're acting this strange, there's something wrong. So what is it?"

"Okay..." Taylor started once again. "I'm pregnant...again."

"What?" Ryan laughed in shock.

"I'm pregnant," she repeated. "We're having another baby."

Ryan looked completely shocked for a moment, then replied, "Oh my God."

"Is that a good oh my God?" Taylor asked, as she sat on the edge of her seat anxiously.

"Of course it is!" Ryan exclaimed, jumping up from the table. He then pulled Taylor up from her chair and gave her a hug.

"You're really happy about this?" she asked, as she broke away from the hug.

"Of course I am," he replied. "We always said we wanted our kids to be close in age."

"I know, I just wasn't sure how you'd react when it actually happened," Taylor smiled.

"This is great," Ryan assured his wife. "We're gonna have another one of those" -he gestured to Emily who was playing happily- "in 9 months."

"Actually, it's more like 7 and a half months," she told him. "I'm already 6 weeks along."

"You went to the doctor already?" he questioned with a frown then added, "Without me?"

"Well, I was feeling kind of out of it this morning, so I made a doctor's appointment," Taylor explained. "I just thought it was stress or something, but it turns out that I'm pregnant."

"I have a feeling this one's a boy," Ryan said, glancing down at Taylor's stomach

"Why?" she asked, instinctively placing her hand on her stomach.

"Well we already have a girl, so it makes sense this one would be a boy," Ryan shrugged. "And I'm already outnumbered here."

"We'll see I guess," Taylor smiled, giving her husband a quick kiss on the lips. She then went over to the playpen, picked up Emily and brought her back over to Ryan.

"Okay Miss Emily," Ryan started, gently stroking the baby's curly blonde hair. "How would you feel about having a baby brother or sister?"

Emily just smiled in response and started making undistinguishable baby noises.

"I'm sure she's gonna be the best big sister," said Taylor, looking lovingly at her daughter.

"We definitely have to get rid of that rabbit now," Ryan commented, glancing over at Flapjacks, who was asleep in his cage on the other side of the room.

Taylor glared at her husband, "Ryan..."

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**Please review!**


	3. Dawn and Greg: Part 1

**Sorry I took so long to update, I was having a bit of trouble writing this chapter. Please review**

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_Ryan and Taylor's House - 11:30am_

It was the day of the arrival of Ryan's mother and her new husband and Taylor was in a cleaning frenzy.

She was in the living room vacuuming the rug when Ryan came down the stairs carrying Emily, who was dressed in a pink dress and white shoes.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Ryan shouted out over the noise of the vacuum, "Taylor!" He still got no response so he repeated, "Taylor! Taylor! Tay-" Ryan then gave up and went over and pulled out the plug that was powering the vaccum.

Taylor looked up with a confused look on her face. She then saw Ryan and frowned, "What did you do that for?" She set the vacuum on the ground and crossed her arms in slight annoyance.

"Taylor, you've been vacuuming that rug for half an hour now," he replied.

"Well, I don't want your mother to think that I don't clean," she explained.

"You do clean," said Ryan. "Actually, you over-clean."

Taylor sighed as she walked over to her husband, "I'm obsessing aren't I?"

"Yeah," Ryan agreed with a smirk. "A little."

"I just want everything to be perfect," she shrugged.

"Well everything is perfect," he nodded. "My Mom's gonna love you, I promise."

"Really?" Taylor asked with a hopeful grin.

"Of course," Ryan assured his wife, kissing her on the lips.

As they broke away from each other, Taylor looked down at Emily's feet and gasped, "Ryan!" she exclaimed.

"What?" he asked, looking down at his daughter.

"I told you to put the white socks on Emily, not the pink striped ones!" Taylor exclaimed, taking the toddler out of Ryan's arms. "I'll have to go change them, they don't match at all."

"Do they have to?" he questioned.

Taylor looked at Ryan like he had just asked her if the sky was blue, "Of course they do! Think about it, today it's just the socks that don't match", then in 10 or 15 years time she'll have no sense of fashion whatsoever. Is that really something you want to teach our daughter Ryan?"

"Uh," Ryan hesitated, not sure of what to say. "No?"

Taylor rolled her eyes, "Forget about it, they're gonna be here any minute." -she looked around the room then turned back to Ryan- "Are you sure everything's okay?"

"It's fine," he nodded, then picked up the vacuum that was still sitting on the carpet. "I'm gonna go put this away. Just relax, okay?" Ryan then left the room without waiting for her to answer.

"But I'm too nervous!" Taylor called out after him.

"You'll be fine!" he yelled back.

Taylor sighed then looked at her daughter and smiled. She then said to her in a baby-like voice, "You Miss Emily, have to be on your best behaviour today. You're gonna meet your other Grandma, isn't that exciting?"

The baby just looked at her mother and giggled.

"Your Grandma's gonna love you!" Taylor exclaimed, giving Emily a hug. "I don't know how anyone couldn't love you. You're just too cute!"

She continued talking to Emily until the doorbell rang, making Taylor jump, "Oh my God! They're here! Ryan!" she called out making her way over to the front door.

"I'm coming," he replied, coming back into the living room and walking over to the front door.

When Ryan was by her side, Taylor grabbed the doorknob nervously, then opened the door to find a short blonde woman and a quite tall dark haired man.

Ryan smiled at his mother, "Mom!"

"Ryan!" Dawn exclaimed, setting down her suitcase and pulling her son into a hug. When she finally pulled away she exclaimed, "Look at you, all grown up!"

"Yeah," he agreed, not sure what to say. "Uh...come in." Ryan as well as Taylor who was smiling a bit too enthusiastically both stepped back to allow their guests to enter the house.

"You must be Taylor right?" Dawn said, smiling at her.

"Yeah, that's me!" she replied nervously, as she leant over and gave her a friendly hug, well as best as Taylor could do considering she had a baby in her arms. "It's so nice to meet you Mrs..."

"Oh, just call me Dawn," she told her. Dawn then turned to the man with her, "This is my husband Greg. Greg this is my baby Ryan, although he's not so much of a baby anymore."

Ryan laughed, slightly embarrassed as he shook Greg's hand, "It's nice to meet you."

"You too," he replied. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you Ryan."

"That's...great," he said awkwardly. Ryan then turned to his mother, who was smiling at her grand daughter and talking to Taylor. "Why don't we get your stuff up to the guest bedroom?"

"Sure," Dawn nodded, grabbing her suitcase.

"Oh, I can take that," Ryan offered, taking the suitcase from her. "Why don't Greg and I go put these upstairs and you two can just relax?"

"Thanks Ry," Dawn smiled as her husband and son made their way up the stair case with the heavy luggage. Once the men were upstairs, Dawn turned to Taylor and commented, "You have a beautiful house."

Taylor grinned, this was the comment she had spent the last few days cleaning for, "Thank you. When Ryan and I first got married we lived in an apartment, so we started house-hunting and found this place. I completely fell in love with it as soon as we walked in."

"Understandably, it's amazing," Dawn commented, looked around the living room. "So Taylor, are you from Berkley?"

"I don't know if you remember me, but I went to high school with Ryan in Newport," she replied. "But don't get the wrong idea from that, I'm not one of those Newpsie bitches who only cares about money if that's what your thinking. I'm fairly decent, at least I think I am."

"I don't think Ryan would have married a gold-digging Newpsie," she said. "So you musn't be that bad." Taylor frowned for a moment, wondering what she meant by that. Dawn added quickly, "I'm kidding, really Taylor you seem like a lovely person."

"So do you," Taylor added.

"Well, I try my best," she replied. "I hope that's good enough for Ryan."

"Ryan really loves you Dawn," Taylor smiled. "I just thought you should know that."

"He does?"

"Yeah, I just think he worries about you a lot," she continued.

"Great, I'm his mother I'm supposed to be worrying about him," Dawn sighed. "It's no secret I wasn't the best Mom in the world, but I'm really trying to be a better person and make it up to Ryan."

"And that means everything to him," Taylor nodded.

"So, what do you want to do?" Ryan asked as he and Greg came down the stairs.

Taylor looked over at him, "Well, I was thinking that we could all go out for lunch? You guys must be starving after the long flight."

"Yeah, that sounds great," Dawn nodded.

* * *

_The Restaurant - 12:30pm_

Ryan, Taylor, Dawn and Greg, as well as Emily in a highchair, were sitting in a restaurant waiting for their meals to arrive. So far, the meal wasn't going very well. There had been many awkward silences despite Taylor's attempts of starting a conversation, and Ryan was acting suspiciously cold towards Greg.

"So Greg," Ryan spoke up. "What do you do exactly?"

"I'm a high school teacher," he replied. "I teach Science and Maths."

"Oh my God!" Taylor exclaimed, trying to give the poor man a break from Ryan's interegation. "I was a high school teacher too! Before we had Emily of course, but I taught French."

"You speak French?" Dawn questioned.

She nodded in reply, "And a little Spanish and Korean. I like languages."

"I'm impressed," Dawn nodded. "How did you manage do learn all those languages? I certainly wouldn't have been able to do it."

"I'm a quick study," Taylor shrugged with a smile. There was yet another awkward silence until Taylor spoke up again, "I was actually thinking of teaching Emily some French when she's older."

"It's always good to know another language," Greg commented.

"Yeah," Dawn agreed. Suddenly, she thought of something, "Oh I remember you Taylor. You were the one who did the speech at Ryan's High School Graduation."

"Yeah, that was me," Taylor replied. "I'm surprised you remembered. I thought I was boring everyone with all the Latin."

"No, it wasn't boring," Dawn laughed. "I thought it was a nice speech."

"Thank you Dawn, I think you're the only one that commented on that," she smiled.

The table fell into silence again.

"So, how long have you guys known each other?" Ryan asked, looking at Dawn and Greg.

"We met about 5 years ago," she replied. "And we got married about 2 years ago."

"How did you meet?" Taylor asked.

"Well, I was in a coffee shop with a friend," Dawn explained, glancing over at her husband with a smile. "We were ordering our coffees and Greg was just in front of us in the line. He ordered his coffee, then when he was walking away he dropped his wallet without noticing. So I picked it up then I went over and gave it back to him...and the rest is history."

"Aw, that's so romantic," Taylor grinned, then turned to her husband, "Isn't that so romantic Ryan?"

He looked at her in disbelief, surprised that Taylor was supporting Dawn and Greg's relationship. Ryan frowned and replied, "No, not really."

Taylor glared at him, then turned to Dawn and Greg with a forced smile, "Uh, will you excuse us for a minute? Do you mind watching Emily?"

"No, not at all," Dawn replied.

"Thanks," Taylor smiled as she stood up from her seat. She then gestured for Ryan to get up and the two of them went over to a quiet part of the restaurant.

"What was that all about?" Ryan questioned.

"That's funny, I was about to ask you the same question," she replied sternly. "You've been treating Greg like crap since he and Dawn arrived. What is up with you? You've been acting like a total snob!"

"There's something about that guy that I don't like," he explained seriously.

"What? That he doesn't fit the usual description of your mother's previous boyfriends?" Taylor asked. "That he's genuinely a nice guy who loves her?"

"We barely know him Taylor, how do we know that he's a nice guy?" Ryan argued.

"How do we know he's not?" she challenged. "Look, can't you just give him a chance Ryan? It would mean a lot to your mother."

He sighed, then finally gave in, "Fine. I'll try to be a little nicer to Greg, but only for Mom's sake."

"Thank you," Taylor sighed in relief. "I really didn't want you to go all 'Kid Chino' on me."

"Don't worry, Kid Chino is long gone I promise," Ryan smiled.

"Good," she replied, returning the smile. "Now let's get back to the table before Greg and Dawn think we've left and dumped the baby on them."

"Now there's a thought..." Ryan said as he took Taylor's hand. Receiving a glare from his wife as they made their way back to the table, Ryan added, "I'm kidding."

As they sat back down Dawn asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah, everything's fine," Taylor nodded.

* * *

_Ryan and Taylor's House - 12:30pm_

Taylor glanced over at the clock radio on her bedside table and sighed. She was only two months pregnant and already the baby was disrupting her sleep. Taylor looked beside her where Ryan was fast asleep and snoring softly. She didn't want to wake him, so she got out of bed and went downstairs to the kitchen.

Taylor hummed to herself softly as she made her way over to the freezer and took out a tub of ice cream. _Not exactly the best thing to be having at 1am, _she thought to herself with a smile, _but oh well, if my baby wants it._

As she took out a spoon and bowl and began to put some ice cream in the bowl, Taylor wondered, _What would taste good with this ice cream?_

* * *

Dawn lay in bed next to her sleeping husband and sighed. She couldn't sleep because she was worried about Ryan. He didn't seem to like Greg and Dawn didn't know why. She had thought Ryan would have been thrilled that she had finally found a nice guy, but from what Dawn had witnessed over the last few hours, that didn't seem so. With another sigh, Dawn got out of bed and went downstairs for a glass of water. 

As she reached the kitchen and turned on the light, Dawn heard a gasp and realised it had come from Taylor, who was sitting at the kitchen bench eating what looked like ice cream with something green on top.

"Oh my God Dawn, it's only you," Taylor laughed, "You scared me."

"Uh, sorry" she replied, walking over to Taylor. "I didn't mean to, I couldn't sleep and I wanted a glass of water."

"Oh, well help yourself," she said, gesturing to the refridgerator. "Glasses are in the top cupboard on the left."

Dawn nodded as she made her way over to the fridge and took out a jug of cold water. She then set the jug of water on the bench, took out a glass and began pouring herself a glass of water. Dawn looked over at Taylor's bowl again and asked, "Uh, what are you eating?"

Taylor looked down at her bowl and laughed nervously, "Um, icecream...with uh...pickles."

Dawn made a disgusted face, then quickly tried to hide it, not wanting to be rude.

"Please don't think I'm a total weirdo," Taylor added quickly. "There's a really good explanation for this," -she placed her hand on her stomach- "I'm pregnant."

"Oh my God, you are?" Dawn exclaimed, with an excited smile. "Congratulations! Does Ryan know?"

"Yeah, we found out about 2 weeks ago," Taylor explained. "Actually, I told Ryan the night you called."

"That's great, how far along are you?" she asked, taking a seat next to Taylor at the kitchen bench.

"Oh not very, about 8 weeks," she replied.

"Aw, I'm very happy for you two," Dawn smiled.

"Thanks Dawn," Taylor said, returning the smile.

"Taylor?" Ryan called out as he entered the kitchen.

Taylor and Dawn both turned around.

"Ryan," Taylor smiled, "What are you doing up?"

"I woke up and you weren't there and- what are you eating?" he questioned, looking down at the bowl in disgust.

"It happens to taste good actually," she replied.

"How can you eat that?" Ryan asked.

"Well, your child seems to like it," Taylor shrugged. Ryan glanced over at Dawn, then looked back to Taylor. "Oh don't worry Ryan, she knows."

"You know?" he repeated, looking over at his mother.

"Yeah, Taylor told me," Dawn explained, getting up from her seat and giving her son a hug, "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Ryan smiled.

"You know, suddenly I'm not in the mood for ice cream," Taylor spoke up, pushing her bowl away from her in disgust and putting one hand over her mouth. "Actually, I think I'm going to be sick." With that last comment, Taylor got up and quickly ran out of the kitchen.

Ryan grimaced, then followed his wife out of the kitchen, leaving Dawn alone.

Dawn made a face, feeling sorry for Taylor, before finishing her glass of water and leaving the kitchen to go back to bed.

* * *

**That was Day 1 of Dawn and Greg's visit. The next chapter will be the next day. Please review!**


	4. Dawn and Greg: Part 2

**Thanks for all the reviews everyone! I'll try to update more often, i no i've been slow sorry! neway, here's the next chapter of day 2 of Dawn and Greg's visit**

* * *

_Ryan and Taylor's Bedroom - 7:00am_

Ryan was woken up on Sunday morning by the sunlight shining through the blinds of his and Taylor's bedroom window. He glanced over at the clock radio, which read 7:02. _Why am I awake so early on a Sunday morning? _Ryan thought to himself with a yawn. He smiled as he looked over at his wife lying fast asleep beside him. Ryan really didn't want to wake Taylor up so he gently kissed her on the cheek before getting out of bed and walking out of the bedroom and into the hallway.

Ryan peered into Emily's room to find his daughter sitting up awake in her crib, holding a teddy bear.

Ryan smiled as he made his way over to the crib. "Good Morning Emily," he greeted her as he lifted her out and into his arms.

"How's my favourite girl doing this morning?" Of course there was no real reply, other than a few words of baby talk, considering Emily was only 11 months old and couldn't really speak yet, apart from a few words.

"Let's go downstairs so we don't wake up Mommy," Ryan said to his daughter as he carried her out of the room.

When they arrived in the kitchen, Ryan suddenly remembered why he wanted to be up early this morning. He carefully put Emily in her highchair before finding his cellphone and dialling a number that he had dialled many times before.

The phone rang four times before someone answered, "Hello?"

"Hey Sandy, I didn't wake you did I?" Ryan asked.

"No of course not. I never sleep in, you know that," he replied warmly. "So what's up Kid?"

"Oh, nothing," he responded. "Just maybe...a favour."

"What kind of a favour?" Sandy questioned his adopted son.

"Well, you know Mom's new husband Greg?" Ryan started.

"Of course, Kirsten said that Taylor told her he was a nice guy," he replied. "I'm happy that your mother finally found a good guy."

Ryan hesitated before responding, "Yeah, well I was kinda wondering whether you could, you know...do a background check on him, just to make sure that he's completely clean."

"You want me to do what?"

"I know it sounds kind of crazy, but it would really make me feel better if I knew more about this guy," he explained.

"I understand where this is coming from Ryan, but I don't think-"

"Please Sandy?" Ryan begged. "I have a really bad feeling about this guy."

"Ryan, if your mother ever found out that you did this-"

He cut Sandy off, "She won't."

"Maybe not, but if she did she would be very upset that you asked me to do this," Sandy said, trying to convince Ryan as best he could. "Are you really willing to take that risk?"

"Yes I am," he replied confidently.

"Okay, I'll call my friend in Newport and see what I can do," Sandy gave in.

"Thank you for doing this for me Sandy, I owe you one," Ryan said greatfully. "I'll see you tonight."

"Bye kid," he replied.

Ryan hung up the phone and turned around to Emily, who smiled up at him from her high chair, "No telling Mommy about this okay? At least, not yet," he said to her with a smile.

* * *

_Ryan and Taylor's House - 5:30pm_

"So Kirsten said she's making fish for dinner tonight," Taylor stated to her husband as she began brushing her hair in front of the bathroom mirror. "Is that okay for your Mom, Ryan?"

"Yeah, that should be fine," Ryan replied from his and Taylor's bed, where he was sitting with Emily. "My Mom's not fussy."

"Great," Taylor grinned. "I told Kirsten it would be fine, but I just wanted to make sure."

"So are Seth and Summer coming tonight?" Ryan asked, picking up one of Emily's stuffed animals.

"Well, they're supposed to be coming," Taylor started, making her way into the bedroom, "but it depends on how Summer's feeling. She's getting really big and everything"-suddenly Taylor's eyes widened in panic as she sat down beside Ryan- "Oh my god, please don't tell Summer I said that, I really don't want to upset her."

"Don't worry, I want to avoid a rage black-out just as much as you do," he said, cringing at the thought. "They'll probably be 100 times worse than usual 'cause she's pregnant."

"Excuse me, you know you're talking to another pregnant woman here," she stated, nudging him with her elbow.

"Yeah, but you're not really hormonal...yet," Ryan explained.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Taylor demanded, feeling slightly offended.

_Ok, maybe she **is** hormonal, _Ryan thought before replying, "Nothing, nothing. Forget I said anything. So are you ready to go?"

"Ha," she replied. "Are you kidding? I haven't done my hair or my make-up."

"But you look fine," he argued.

"Thanks, thats really the compliment every woman wants to hear from her husband," Taylor responded sarcastically, "You look fine."

"Sorry, you look beautiful," Ryan replied with a smile. "Now let's go!"

"Nice try mister," she stated with a smirk. "Give me 15 minutes okay?"

"And by 15 minutes you mean 1 hour?" he teased.

"Ha ha, very funny," Taylor replied.

* * *

About half an hour later, Ryan, Taylor, Dawn, Greg and Emily were on Sandy and Kirsten's doorstep. 

Ryan was about to ring the doorbell, when Dawn stopped him.

"What's wrong?" he questioned with a puzzled look on his face.

She gestured down to her clothes, "Do I look okay?"

"Yes," Ryan replied, "you look great Mom."

"You look very nice Dawn, don't worry," Taylor added with a smile. Greg nodded in agreement.

"You sure?"

"Yes," Ryan, Taylor and Greg all added in unison.

"Okay, okay," Dawn smiled. "Ring the doorbell."

Ryan rang the doorbell, and a moment later, Sophie answered the door.

Her face lit up as she saw her brother, "Ryan!" Sophie threw her arms around his waist.

Ryan smiled as he accepted her hug, "Hey Soph! How are you?"

"I'm good," she smiled, before hugging Taylor in the same way she had hugged Ryan.

Realising that Dawn and Greg were standing there looking quite confused, Ryan introduced them to the youngest member of the Cohen family, "Um, guys this is Sophie. Sophie, this is Dawn and Greg."

"It's very nice to meet you Sophie," Greg smiled, shaking her hand.

Sophie giggled as she shook the man's hand and exclaimed happily, "Hi! I'm Ryan's sister."

"Sister?" Dawn questioned, looking at Ryan.

"Yeah, she's Sandy and Kirsten's daughter," he explained.

"Oh," she replied. "How nice."

"Sophie, I told you to ask who it is before opening the door," Kirsten scolded gently as she came down the hallway.

"But it's Ryan Mommy," the little girl protested.

"You only knew that because you opened the door. It could have been a stranger," she pointed out, before shifting her attention from her daughter, to her guests. "Ryan, Taylor, how are you? It's lovely to see you again Dawn."

"It's nice to see you too Kirsten," Dawn smiled politely.

"Hello Kirsten," Taylor smiled.

"Come in," she replied, gesturing for them to enter.

"Oh Kirsten, this is Greg, Mom's new husband," Ryan stated as they entered the house.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you," Kirsten smiled warmly, shaking his hand. "Kirsten Cohen."

"It's nice to meet you too," Greg smiled. "You have a lovely home."

"Thank you," she replied before taking Emily from Taylor's arms into her own. "Hello Emily, how's my special little girl doing?"

"Are Summer and Seth here yet?" Taylor asked.

"Oh yes, they're outside," Kirsten nodded. "Everyone come through." She then gestured for everyone to follow her into the backyard.

"So far so good," Taylor whispered to Ryan with a small smile.

He nodded in reply as they began following everyone into the backyard, "Let's just hope the rest of the night goes this smoothly."

"Don't worry, everything's going to be fine," she assured him.

* * *

An hour later, Sandy, Kirsten, Dawn, Greg, Summer, Seth, Ryan, Taylor, Sophie, Emily and Lucy were all seated at the dining room table enjoying their meals and talking amongst themselves. 

"So, what made you all move away from Newport?" Dawn asked.

"Well, our house was pretty much destroyed during the earthquake we had years ago," Sandy started, "so we needed a new house and decided to move up to Berkley. Kirsten and I lived here when Seth was little and we were always happiest here so we thought, why not?"

"Did you see my little handprints in the sidewalk?" Seth asked. "Everyone always comments about how cute they are."

"Yeah Cohen, because they were especially looking out for handprints in the sidewalk as they walked up to the house," Summer remarked, rolling her eyes.

Dawn chuckled at Summer's comment before replying, "I didn't see them, but we'll have a look when we leave Seth."

The conversation was suddenly interupted by the sound of Sandy's cell phone ringing. He took the phone out of his pocket and quickly checked the caller ID. "I'm sorry, I have to take this."

"Sandy," Kirsten frowned, "can't it wait until after dinner?"

"It'll only take a few minutes, I promise," he replied, standing up from the table. "Excuse me." As he made his way inside he answered the phone, "Hello, Sandy Cohen speaking."

"Sorry about Sandy everyone," Kirsten apologised. "It's probably a work call."

"Don't worry Kirsten, it's fine," Dawn replied reassuringly.

The group continued eating quietly until Sandy came back outside, "Ryan," he started. Ryan looked up at Sandy curiously. "Can I talk to you for a minute, inside?" he asked.

Ryan nodded standing up from the table, "Sure."

"Is everything okay?" Taylor asked Sandy.

"Yeah Dad, what's going on?" Seth added.

"Nothing, nothing," he replied. "I just need to speak to Ryan quickly."

Ryan and Sandy then made their way inside, leaving the remaining people, minus Sophie, Lucy and Emily, very confused and worried.

The two men stopped once they were in the kitchen, out of the earshot of everyone outside.

"So..." Ryan said, leaning against the kitchen bench.

"I got a call back from my friend Mike in Newport who works for the Police Department," Sandy explained. "I got him to have Greg checked out like you asked me and...well, they've found something."

Ryan was silent for a moment before responding softly, "What did they find?"

"Well, apparently he's had a few domestic abuse charges," he started. "His first wife reported him once, then she went back to him after he promised that he had changed and it happened again, leading to another charge."

Ryan sighed, "Great, this is just what Dawn needs."

"But Mike did say that he went to jail for about 5 years and there hasn't been any trouble surrounding him for the last 15 years," Sandy continued. "Apart from a few parking fines, he seems to be back on track now."

"Do you think she knows?" he asked.

"Your mother?" Sandy responded. Ryan nodded. "I don't know, maybe. Greg may have told her, or he may not have."

"Should I tell her?"

"It's up to you Ryan, but I don't think there's any need to tell her," he retorted.

"Don't you think she deserves to know that she's married to a potentially dangerous man?" he argued, raising his voice. Sandy looked at his adopted son in alarm, surprised at how worked up Ryan was getting. "Sorry Sandy, I shouldn't being taking my anger out on you, you're only trying to help," he apologised.

"Don't worry about it Kid," Sandy replied, patting Ryan on the back. "I know you're just trying to protect your mother and do what's best for her."

"Greg might have changed, but don't you think Mom should know about his past?"

"If he's changed now, then does it really matter?" he questioned.

* * *

They all got through dinner in one piece. Ryan and Sandy didn't say anything about what they had found out about Greg and managed to think up an excuse for the mysterious phone call and private talk that had taken place between them. After dinner, everybody said their goodbyes and went home. 

Later that night, after putting Emily to sleep (which had been an hour and a half long routine that night since the toddler was being restless and refused to go to sleep), Ryan and Taylor were in bed, talking about the day's events.

"So everything turned out okay, right?" Taylor smiled brightly. "Dawn and Greg are going home tomorrow and no major disaster has occurred."

Ryan paused for a moment, wondering how his wife could be so cheerful at 12pm, before replying half-heartedly, "Yeah, everythings been pretty good."

Taylor rolled over onto her side so she was facing Ryan, "What's wrong sweetie?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," he replied, forcing a smile as he kissed Taylor softly on the lips.

"No you're not," she remarked. "You're worried about something, I can tell." Getting no reply she persisted gently, "Come on Ryan, talk to me."

Ryan sat up so he was sitting leant against the backboard of the bed, "Okay, but you can't tell anyone about this. Not Summer, Kirsten or Kaitlin, nobody."

"Okay..." Taylor replied, also sitting up.

"Do you promise?"

"Yes, I promise," Taylor laughed. "Do you want to pinky swear too?"

"Sure, why not," Ryan smiled, holding out his pinky. "Pinky swear?"

Taylor smiled and locked her pinky with his, "Now are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"

"Okay," he began. "You know how I was a bit suspicious of Greg?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, I couldn't shake the bad feeling I had about him so..." Ryan started. Taylor nodded, urging him to continue. "I asked Sandy to get him checked out by his friend in the  
Police Department in Newport."

"You what?!" she exclaimed. "Ryan-"

"Let me finish," he interrupted. "They found out that Greg has a criminal record for domestic abuse about 15 or 20 years ago."

"Oh," Taylor replied. "Oh no. Does your Mom know?"

"That's the thing, I don't know," Ryan sighed. "So now I don't know whether to tell her or not." He took Taylor's hand in his, "What do you think I should do?"

"I don't know Ryan," she started. "If you tell her, than she could freak out because a.) she didn't know and is mad at Greg for keeping such a big secret from her or b.) she did know and she's mad at you for not trusting her better judgement..."

"And if I don't tell her..."

"Then Greg could start abusing Dawn in the future and you would feel guilty because you could have stopped it by warning her," Taylor finished.

Ryan sighed, "I'm actually starting to wish I never knew all of this about Greg."

"Well, you do know now so you're going to have to make the decision whether or not to tell your mother," she replied, squeezing Ryan's hand reassuringly. "Just really think about it, and make sure you do what you think is right."

* * *

**What will Ryan do? You'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out! Until then, review and say what you think Ryan should do :D Thanks..**


	5. Dawn and Greg: Part 3

**This chapter was just a random idea I had so I hope you all like it. I've had quite a lot of inspiration for this story lately, which has been good since I've finally been updating. Anyway, the part in italics at the beginning is in Ryan's dream and the rest of the chapter is like normal. Thanks for reading!! **

* * *

_Ryan walked down what seemed like a never-ending footpath feeling slightly paranoid and nervous, but not knowing why. He remembered feeling like this when he had lived in Chino in his early teenage years. This was because in Chino you always had to watch your back, incase a gang was in the area looking for vengeance for a fight that had broken out between your group and theirs that had either been interrupted, or that they lost and they were looking to settle the score . Ryan hadn't felt this insecure and unsafe for almost 15 years now, and had no idea why these feelings were arising again. He was only walking down a quiet street in Berkeley; there were no gangs and it was completely safe to go for a walk by yourself. However, Ryan still couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right._

You're safe, _Ryan kept repeating over and over in his head, to remind himself that he wasn't in any danger. _You're safe, you're safe, you're safe...nothings going to happen to you...relax... _Realising that thinking wasn't calming at all, Ryan began to say the words aloud, "You're safe, everything's fine. You're not in Chino anymore..." Ryan continued muttering to himself as he walked down the normal-looking, but deserted suburban street. In the near distance, Ryan could see a familiar-looking house. He squinted, trying to make it out through the glare of the sun. __His curiosity peaking, Ryan picked up his pace and eventually started running towards the house, all while continuously muttering to himself, "You're not in Chino...you're safe here..."_

_After what seemed like hours, Ryan began to reach the house. _Why is it taking so long to get there? _he wondered, _I wasn't that far away. _As the house came into clearer view, Ryan suddenly realised where he was and stopped dead in his tracks. He was standing in front of his old house in Chino. "No it can't be," he said out loud to himself. "That's impossible." Ryan looked around and realised that the quiet, neat, suburban neighbourhood he had been running in only a minute ago, had changed into the noisy, dirty, violent streets of Chino. _

_Ryan suddenly felt someone poke him hard in the back. He turned around immediately and acting on instinct, went to throw a punch at whoever was behind him, something he hadn't been tempted to do since High School. As soon as Ryan threw his fist forward he realised that there was no one there, and that he had just punched thin air. "What the hell?" Ryan muttered to himself, looking around cautiously incase whoever poked him was still around. "I've got to get out of here," he said to himself, turning to walk back in the direction that he came from._

_Suddenly, Ryan heard a terrified scream. This wasn't just any scream either, it was his mothers. Ryan looked back and realised the scream had come from his hou- old house. Not hesitating for a moment, he ran up to the house, up the front porch steps and through the wide open front door. "Mom!!" he exclaimed as he stopped in the dirty, messy living room. Ryan heard the sound of a man's threatening voice coming from the bedroom, and followed it._

_Ryan threw open the door of the bedroom to find his mother crawled up in a ball in the corner of the room, bloody and bruised, with a black eye and split lip. A tall man with dark hair was standing over her, throwing mouthfuls of abusive language at Dawn. The man was facing away from Ryan, so he couldn't see who he was. Dawn just whimpered softly as she covered her ears with her shaking hands, trying to block out the man's booming voice. Ryan was suddenly hit with a wave of rage. "DON'T YOU TOUCH HER YOU BASTARD!!" he yelled, charging at the man's waist, knocking him to the ground not to far away from Dawn._

_"RYAN NO!!" Dawn shrieked as Ryan started punching the guy. "HE'LL HURT YOU!! STOP!!! PLEASE!!"_

_Ryan wasn't paying any attention. All he knew was that this man had hurt his mother, so now **he** was going to hurt him. After punching the man again Ryan froze, seeing his face for the very first time, "No! It can't be," he said, to no-one in particular. Lying on the floor before him, was Greg. Realising Ryan had stopped punching him, Greg took this opportunity to push him to the ground, so hard that Ryan's head slammed against the thin carpet and the concrete that ley beneath it. After Greg had punched him a few times, Ryan's head was spinning. All he could hear was his mother's hysterical pleas for Greg to stop and all he could see was Greg's angry face._

_"Ryan!!!" he heard someone yell. He couldn't tell where the voice had come from, but it sounded very familiar. "Ryan, wake up!!! Ryan!!!" the voice continued screaming. The world kept spinning and spinning, and the voice kept calling his name as Ryan realised he was no longer laying on the floor of his mother's bedroom in Chino. _

He was back in his and Taylor's bedroom is Berkeley, lying on his soft, comfortable, bed. "Ryan!!" the voice exclaimed again. As he regained consciousness again, Ryan realised that the voice belonged to Taylor, who was standing beside the bed, looking very panicked and upset. "Oh my God Ryan, oh my God!! I don't know what to do...she's gone...i don't know what happened...she's not in her room!!" Taylor cried. "I've looked everywhere...i can't find her..."

All thoughts of his dream vanished from his mind, as Ryan started panicking, wondering what she was talking about. He sat up quickly and grabbed Taylor gently by the shoulders, "Taylor! Calm down, what happened?"

"She-she-she's gone," she stammered with a sob.

"Who's gone?" Ryan demanded.

"EMILY Ryan!! Who else would I be talking about?!!" Taylor exclaimed.

"EMILY'S GONE!" he exclaimed, jumping out of bed, almost knocking his wife over. "How?"

"I don't know," she started. "I went into her room and she wasn't in her crib so I thought that maybe your mother or Greg took her downstairs or something. Then I went downstairs and no one was down there, I've looked everywhere and I- I don't know what to do Ryan!!"

"Calm down, okay honey?" Ryan said to her, trying to stay calm. "We're going to find her, I promise." He took Taylor's hand, "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Taylor asked as they left their bedroom in a rush.

Ryan didn't answer her as he ran over to the guestroom down the hall and opened the door, "Mom, have you got Emily?!"

"Emily?" Dawn repeated as she got out of bed. "No I don't, why?"

"She's gone, Taylor went into her bedroom this morning and she wasn't in her crib-" Ryan explained quickly.

"What do you mean she's gone?!" she exclaimed, interrupting her son. "How could she be gone?"

"I don't know!"

"Wait a minute," Taylor started. "Where's Greg?"

"Greg?" Dawn and Ryan repeated in unison.

"I think he's in the bathroom," Dawn replied, gesturing to the door to the connecting bathroom.

Ryan began banging on the bathroom door, "Greg?! If you're in there you need to come out now, Emily's gone and we need your help." There was no response so Ryan tried the doorknob to find that the door was unlocked. He opened the door and realised that no one was in there. "He's not here!" he exclaimed, turning back to the two women.

"Do you think he has her?" Taylor asked.

"Why would he take Emily without telling us?!" Ryan demanded. "Why would he even go anywhere without telling us?!"

"I have no idea!" Taylor exclaimed as she began to pace up and down the guest bedroom, nervously.

"Ryan, Taylor, there's no need to panic. I'm sure they'll be back soon," Dawn said, trying to calm both him and Taylor down.

"That's if they come back at all," he replied. "I should have expected him to do something like this."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked defensively.

"It means that your **husband **is a criminal," Ryan replied bitterly. "He's probably kidnapped my daughter!"

Taylor stopped pacing and exclaimed, "Kidnapped?!" Obviously, that thought hadn't come to her mind yet and now she was even more panicked.

"What are you talking about?!" Dawn cried.

"He's been in prison Mom, for domestic abuse," he explained. "So I guess now, we can add kidnapping to his record."

"Greg hasn't been in prison," she replied. "He would have told me something important like that, we tell each other everything."

"Well obviously, there was one thing he forgot to tell you."

"Where are you getting these ridiculous ideas from?!"

"They're not ideas, they're true," he replied. "I got Sandy to have Greg checked out by his friend in the Police Department."

"You- you what?" she asked quietly, trying to hold back her tears. "Why would you do that Ryan? Don't you trust me to make my own decisons when it comes to men?"

"It's not about that at all, I was just trying to protect you," Ryan said. "The point is, he has a criminal record, ask Sandy if you don't believe me." At this point, both Dawn and Taylor were in tears. "And now Greg's taken Emily and we have no idea where they are," he continued, sitting down on the bed and burying his face in his hands. "It's all my fault, I should have told you about him earlier Mom."

For a moment, the room was silent. The noise that broke the silence was the sound of the front door opening. Taylor was the first to react, "Emily!" she called out, running out of the room, closely followed by Ryan, then Dawn.

As soon as Taylor and Ryan got downstairs, they ran over to Greg, and Taylor grabbed Emily from his arms and hugged her tightly, "Oh baby, Mommy was so worried about you!" She carefully examined her daughter, making sure she was okay.

"Are you okay Em?" Ryan said, gently stroking her head.

"Of course she's okay, she was with me," Greg said, finally speaking up. "We just went out to get some bagels for breakfast from that bakery on the corner. Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you."

"Oh we were way passed worried Greg!" Taylor exclaimed. "I was going to call the Police."

"What the hell were you thinking taking our daughter without asking us?!" Ryan asked, angrily.

"Ryan, Taylor, that's enough okay?" Dawn interrupted. "Greg brought Emily home safely and that's all that matters."

"Why are you both getting so mad about this?" Greg asked Ryan and Taylor, ignoring Dawn's comment. "Don't you trust me?"

"After finding out about your criminal past, no we don't," Ryan replied coldly.

"My criminal past? How did you find out about that?"

"I got Sandy's friend in the Police Department to check you out."

"Because you didn't trust me?"

Ryan nodded, "I wanted to make sure my mother was safe."

"Of course she was safe, I would never hurt her Ryan," he declared. "By the way, what you did was invasion of privacy. That's a criminal offense, I could have both you and Sandy arrested."

Ryan was about to reply when Dawn asked her husband softly, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Greg looked over at her and paused for a moment before responding, "I didn't think it was important. It's part of my past and I've changed a lot since then."

"You didn't think I had a right to know?" she questioned him. "After all I've been through with Frank?"

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you. I knew that if you knew about what I did, you never would have given me a chance, or trusted me."

"That's no excuse, you should have told me!" Dawn replied angrily.

"I don't see why you're getting so upset about this Dawn," Greg said. "It doesn't change anything."

"Are you kidding me?" she remarked. "It changes **everything**."

"So you don't want to be with me anymore, is that what your saying?"

"Yes, no...maybe," she stammered. "I don't know, Greg. I really don't know. If you couldn't trust me enough to tell me something like this, then what does that say about the amount of trust in our marriage?"

Greg and Dawn stared at each other in silence. Eventually, Greg looked away and began to make his way upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Dawn asked.

"To pack," he replied, stopping for a moment on the stairs to look back at her. "I'm leaving for the airport early." He then continued up the stairs and was eventually out of sight.

Dawn sighed and sat down on the living room lounge and began to sob, unable to stop the tears from running down her face.

Taylor handed Emily to Ryan, before sitting down beside Dawn and gently taking her hand, trying to comfort her as best she could. Ryan just watched the scene before him, feeling guilty that he may have just broken up his mother's marriage.

* * *

_4 Hours Later_

Greg had taken a taxi to the airport about half an hour after the arguement, and now Ryan, Taylor and Dawn were in the kitchen eating lunch. However, neither Ryan, Taylor or Dawn felt like eating anything after the mornings events.

Taylor made a face as she set down her sandwich on the plate in front of her, "I really don't feel like eating."

"You have to eat Tay," Ryan protested. "You're pregnant, remember?"

She rolled her eyes, "Of course I remember. That's the reason why I don't want to eating anything, I'm feeling nauseaous."

"Maybe you should try eating some crackers," Dawn suggested. "They really helped me through both of my pregnancies, especially with this one."- she tilted her head towards Ryan- "Ryan made me so sick it wasn't funny."

Taylor rested her hand on her stomach with a smile, "Well it looks like this one is taking after its Daddy." She then stood up and went to the cupboard to look for some crackers to settle her stomach.

"Are you okay Dawn?" Taylor asked gently.

Dawn looked up at her with a small smile, "Me? Yeah I'll be fine, don't worry about me."

As Taylor returned to the kitchen table with her packet of crackers she commented, "I really hope you and Greg work things out."

"Thank you Taylor."

"To be honest, I feel really guilty about all of this Dawn," she continued. "Maybe I did overreact about Greg taking Emily without our permission-"

"Don't be silly, you had every right to want to know where your baby is at all times."

"This is all my fault," Ryan declared suddenly. Taylor and Dawn both looked at him. "I never should have asked Sandy to have Greg checked out. It was a huge mistake and I'm sorry if I've damaged yours and Greg's relationship because of it."

"Ryan, it's okay," Dawn assured him. "I'm actually glad you did it. I wasn't at first, but now I am."

"You are?" he asked.

She nodded, "I had a right to know about something like this and you knew that. If it wasn't for you, I may never have known." -she smiled at him gratefully- "And besides, now I know that you still care about me, even after all the mistakes I've made that almost screwed up your entire life."

Ryan took a breath before replying, "Mom, no matter how much you screw up, I'll always love you and care about you."

"Thanks Ry," she smiled, "...I think." Ryan grinned and hugged his mother as Taylor looked on with a smile.

"So, do you think you and Greg could work everything out?" he asked as they broke away from the hug.

"I don't know, I hope so," Dawn sighed. "We have the whole plane trip back to Albuquerque to talk so..." she trailed off. Ryan nodded, understandingly. "So, do you think you can give your old Mom a ride to the airport?"

* * *

_1 Hour Later_

"So, have you got everything?" Ryan asked as he carried his mother's suitcase down the stairs.

"I think so," Dawn smiled from the bottom of the stairs where she was standing holding Emily, next to Taylor. "If I've forgotten something I can always get it when I come back here in a few weeks time for Emily's birthday party."

"Oh, well if I were you I would definitely not miss it," he replied as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "If Taylor has anything to do with it, it's going to be the party of the century."

Taylor hit Ryan on the shoulder playfully, "I just want everything to be perfect. She's only going to turn one once you know."

"And she deserves a great party," Dawn added, looking down at her grand-daughter with a smile. "Anyway, we probably should be heading off."

"Aww, already?" Taylor said sadly. "I wish you were staying longer, I feel like I was just getting to know you."

"We can get to know each other more in my next visit," she replied, hugging Taylor with her one free arm. "You take care of yourself and my grandchild in there," Dawn gestured to Taylor's stomach.

"I will," she smiled.

"Now, you be good for your Mommy and Daddy, Emily," Dawn said to the baby in her arms. She hugged her with a smile, before handing her back to Taylor. She then turned to Ryan, "Let's go."

Within minutes, Ryan and Dawn left the house and were on their way to the airport.

* * *

Ryan arrived home about an hour later to find Taylor sitting on the lounge watching T.V with Emily on her lap. He smiled as he entered the living room, "Hey." 

Taylor and Emily both looked up. "Dada," Emily smiled.

"Yeah, Emily it's Daddy," her mother said to her. Ryan sat down beside them and gave his wife and daughter a kiss.

"Did Dawn get on her flight okay?" Taylor asked, leaning her head on Ryan's shoulder as he put his arm around her.

He nodded, "Yep. She actually got on the plane with Greg."

"That's a good sign."

"Yeah, but I think it was because he had both their tickets," Ryan added.

"Oh," Taylor replied. "Well, at least they're talking to each other, that's a good thing. If they weren't talking I'd be worried."

He nodded in agreement. "It's nice to have a quiet house again."

"It's not going to be quiet for long," she smiled. "Emily's going to be talking more soon, and the baby's going to be born."

"Uh huh, which is why we should enjoy the peace while it lasts," Ryan smiled at Taylor. "I love you."

"I love you too," she replied with a grin. She kissed him on the lips before resting her head back on Ryan's shoulder again.

* * *

**Reviews are much appreciated!!**


	6. The Birthday Party: Part 1

_A month later..._

_5:00pm, Ryan and Taylor's House_

Ryan, Taylor and Emily were in the kitchen. Taylor was sitting at the kitchen table making up party bags for Emily's birthday party, with Emily sitting beside her in her highchair, while Ryan was on the phone with his mother.

"So, how are you and Greg going?" Ryan said into the phone.

"We're working things out," Dawn said. "We're seeing a marriage counsellor and she's a big help..."

"That's good. So you think you guys will be okay then?"

"I hope so," she smiled. "Things are going well at the moment so I'm hoping that that continues."

"Listen Mom," Ryan started, "I'm sorry I caused so much trouble between you and Greg-"

"Don't be silly Ryan, it's fine. You've apologized enough already," Dawn replied. There was a short pause between them before Dawn began talking again, "So are you and Taylor all ready for the big party tomorrow?"

"Mostly. There's a couple of things we have to do tomorrow morning but we're on top of it," he stated.

"Well Greg and I should be at your house at around 10:30am tomorrow, we've got an early flight in the morning," she replied. "Are you sure it's alright for us to stay with you tomorrow night? I mean after last time-"

"Yeah, it's fine. We've already got Taylor's mom staying with us"- Ryan made a face, receiving a glare from Taylor-"so two more people won't make a difference."

"Okay, if you're sure..."

"Yes we're sure."

"Ryan," Taylor called from the table. "Can I have the phone, I want to speak to Dawn."

"Hold on Mom, Taylor wants to talk to you," Ryan said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye honey."

Ryan passed the phone over to Taylor, who began talking at a hundred miles per hour about the plans for the party, and went and removed Emily from her highchair and into his arms. After a few minutes, Taylor finished her conversation, said her goodbyes to Dawn and hung up the phone.

"Oh my God this is so exciting Ryan," Taylor grinned. "I can't believe Emily's going to be one tomorrow!"

"I know, she's growing up way to fast," he replied, kissing his daughter on the cheek.

"Before we know it, she'll be going to school, having sleepovers with her friends, bringing home boyfriends for us to meet-"

"Boyfriends?!" Ryan exclaimed. "There's no way I'm letting any guy touch her until she's at least 25."

"25! What, do you want her to become a nun or something?" Taylor laughed.

"No, I'd just prefer that she doesn't start dating until she's old enough to handle it."

"Oh please, how old were you when you had you're first girlfriend? 10 years old?"

"Actually, I was 12," Ryan corrected her with a smirk, "and besides, that's completely different."

"Why? Because she's a girl?" Taylor questioned him.

"No, because she's **my** girl and I don't want some teenage boy with way too many hormones corrupting her."

Taylor just laughed.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"Nothing, it's just Emily's only turning 1 tomorrow and we're already arguing about whether or not she should date," she explained

"Yeah, we should probably get through her first birthday before worrying about that."

"Good idea. We'll finish this conversation 10 to 15 years from now."

* * *

_9:00am the next morning..._

Ryan was outside hanging decorations when he heard the doorbell ring. With a sigh, he stepped down off the ladder he was standing on, already knowing who was at the door. Ryan went inside, taking as much time as he could, hoping the women would think no one was home and leave. Unfortunately, he reached the front door, then opened it with a fake smile plastered on his face, "Veronica, it's so nice to see you."

"Why thank you Ryan," she replied with an equally fake smile on her face. "I really wish I could say the same for you."

As Ryan stepped back to let his mother-in-law inside the house, he resisted the temptation to shut the door in her face. Instead, he just rolled his eyes at the comment. Ryan was used to Veronica Townsend's snide comments after years of being with Taylor and he now just dismissed whatever she said, not bothered to think up a clever come-back.

As Veronica wheeled her Louis-Vuitton suitcase through the front door she announced, "Now where's the birthday girl?"

"Taylor's upstairs dressing her right now," Ryan replied. "They should be down soon. Just wait a few-" he stopped when he realised Veronica had left her suitcase in the living room and was now making her way upstairs.

"Oh Ryan," Veronica said, turning around. "Be a dear and bring my suitcase upstairs. I'd like to stay in the spare bedroom at the end of the hall. Last time I was in the one next to Emily's bedroom and she kept me awake all night with her crying. I know she's probably gotten over the all-night crying phase by now but I'm not taking any chances, okay?"

Ryan just rolled his eyes, "Of course Veronica, whatever you say." He had learned over the years that it was best just to humour her.

"Well, go on," she gestured to the suitcase. "What are you waiting for? And be careful, that thing cost me 5000 dollars." She then turned and continued up the stairs. Ryan grabbed the suitcase (which seemed to have enough clothes in it for a month's stay, rather than overnight) and followed Veronica upstairs.

Taylor was just finishing doing her daughter's hair in pigtails, when Veronica barged into Emily's room. "Taylor!"

"Mom, hey," she smiled, as she received a hug from her mother.

Veronica stepped back and looked down at her daughter, "You know Taylor, I think you've put on a bit of weight since I last saw you."

The smile immediately disappeared off Taylor's face. "Of course I've put on weight, I'm pregnant remember? I called you a few weeks ago and told you..."

Veronica's face was blank for a moment before she finally replied, "Oh, yes now I remember. Sorry I've just been really pre-occupied lately with work and things." Taylor just nodded in reply. Veronica didn't seem to notice that she'd annoyed her daughter as she turned her attention to Emily, "There's my grand daughter!" She picked her up and hugged her.

Taylor just watched her mother interact with her daughter in disbelief. Veronica Townsend was cold and rude to the whole world, but when it came to Emily, the woman was completely smitten by her. She would send presents regularly from Newport, mainly things like expensive clothes and dolls. Taylor couldn't wait to see what Veronica had gotten Emily for her birthday. _Probably something along the lines of a pony, _Taylor thought to herself with a smirk, _Or maybe she'll go one step further and just buy her an entire zoo._

"So, are you okay to keep an eye on Emily for the next hour or so," Taylor asked. "I've got to prepare a few more things for the party."

Veronica nodded, "Of course. I don't get to spend enough time with this gorgeous girl."

"Thanks Mom, I'll be downstairs if you need me," Taylor replied, starting to move towards the door.

"Oh I nearly forgot," Veronica announced just before Taylor made it to the door of Emily's bedroom. "Emily's present is waiting outside."

"Outside?" Ryan asked as he entered the room, overhearing the conversation. "How big is this thing?"

"Oh no, please don't tell me you actually went ahead and bought a pony," Taylor said worriedly.

"No, close but no," Veronica replied. "Follow me," she said, as she left the room carrying her grand daughter. Ryan and Taylor exchanged worried looks before following after her.

When they got to the front yard, Taylor's jaw dropped in disbelief at what was happily sitting tied to the front gate. "Oh...my...God." She looked up at her mother in disbelief, "Mom..."

* * *

"She got Emily a puppy?" Summer asked as she rocked her three-week-old son gently in her arms.

"Uh-huh," Taylor nodded, turning around from the kitchen bench on which she was preparing food for the party. "It's not that I mind my mother spoiling her, but I wish she would have asked us before she went and bought a puppy."

"How did she bring a dog on the plane anyway?" Kirsten asked.

"She didn't," she replied. "She bought it when she got here." Taylor sighed, "The last thing I needed right now is a dog. We already have Flapjacks and we have the baby coming in a few months..."

"So tell Veronica to take it back," Summer shrugged.

"I can't do that, Emily already loves that dog," Taylor protested. "And so does Ryan. You should've seen his face when he saw him."

"Really?" Summer questioned. "I didn't think that Ryan would be a dog person."

"Me either," Kirsten added as Summer gave the baby to her. "Hi Matthew," she said to the baby with a smile.

"Aw, he is so adorable," Taylor commented as the three women admired baby Matthew.

"I know," Kirsten agreed. "Look at his little nose and little fingers..."

"Ahhh, admiring my offspring are we?" Seth asked as he entered the kitchen. "Now that," he started, pointing to his son, "is good genes."

"Oh don't be so full of yourself Cohen," Summer smirked. "These are my 100 percent flawless genes. We're lucky neither of our children got your annoying and sarcastic genes."

"Don't insult my parents' genes like that Summer, especially not when my mother's in the room," Seth teased.

"That's not what I- I didn't mean-" she stammered to Kirsten. "Oh shut up Seth, I hate you."

"I love you too," he replied with a grin. Summer just gave him an evil look.

"Come on you two, no fighting on Emily's birthday," Kirsten announced.

A few moments later, Ryan and Veronica entered the kitchen. Ryan was carrying the puppy.

"Isn't he great?" Ryan said to Taylor, holding up the puppy.

"She," Veronica corrected him, for the 10th time that morning.

"Yeah, great," Taylor nodded, with a forced smile. "Uh, what type of dog is she?"

"She's a pure-bred Golden Retriever," Veronica announced proudly.

"A Golden Retriever," Taylor repeated, her eyes widening a little in shock. "They grow really big, don't they?"

"Yeah, but we have a big backyard to keep him in," Ryan replied, patting the dog on the head.

"HER!" Veronica corrected him again.

Ryan just rolled his eyes, "Whatever..."

"She's such a cute dog," Summer commented, walking over to Ryan so she could pat her.

"Just keep her away from all the food Ryan," Taylor said to her husband.

"Where are Sandy and the girls?" Kirsten asked, referring to Emily, Sophie and Lucy.

"We left them in the playroom playing doctors," Ryan explained with a smirk. "I think Sandy was the patient, Sophie was operating on him and Emily and Lucy were the nurses, although I don't think Emily really knew what was going on. Sophie kind of just took over..."

"Poor Sandy," Summer commented with a laugh. "He's being attacked by three little girls."

"Why don't you guys go save him," Taylor said to Ryan and Seth, "while we get the food ready. Everyone will be here in half an hour."

"Okay," Ryan nodded. "Come on Seth."

"Oh, and put the dog outside," she added. "I don't want her messing up the house today."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. "That should be Dawn and Greg," Taylor announced, wiping her hands on a tea towel.

"Wait a minute, Dawn's coming?" Kirsten asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, Frank's coming with Julie. That could cause a bit of a problem don't you think?"

"Oh no, I didn't think of that," Taylor gasped. "Oh my God, what am I going to do?"

"Just relax Taylor," Summer said. "I'll go get the door. You, just breathe okay?" Taylor nodded, and with that Summer quickly left the room

"Oh God, don't tell me we're going to have a Chino-style bust up in the middle of Emily's birthday party," Veronica groaned.

"Mother," Taylor started, "please try not to be rude today, if not for my sake, but for Emily's."

"Excuse me I'm never rude. I simply state facts," she replied, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

Kirsten and Taylor just looked at each other, trying not to laugh. "Sure Mom, whatever you say," Taylor replied as Summer came back into the kitchen with Dawn.

"Hi everyone," Dawn greeted Kirsten, Taylor and Veronica.

"Dawn hey!" Taylor smiled, giving her a hug. "Where's Greg? I though he was coming with you."

"He decided to stay home at the last minute," she explained. "We both thought it was best considering the circumstances."

"He was welcome to come, Ryan and I are over what happened last time, really."

"What happened last time?" Veronica asked.

"Nothing Mom," Taylor responded quickly. "By the way, Dawn, this is my mother Veronica. Mom this is Ryan's mother, Dawn."

"It's nice to finally meet you," Dawn said with a smile.

"Yes it's nice to finally meet the woman who brought the criminal my daughter unfortunately married into this world," Veronica retorted.

"Excuse me?!" Dawn exclaimed, shocked at what had just come out of the other woman's mouth.

"Mom!" Taylor exclaimed. "That's an awful thing to say. How many times do I have to tell you that Ryan's not a criminal?"

"Was he or was he not in jail?" she replied.

"Yes but-"

"I rest my case," Veronica replied triumphantly, while Kirsten, Dawn and Summer all looked on in shock.

"Oh my God," Taylor groaned. This was going to be a very long day.

* * *

**Reviews are always welcome.**


	7. The Birthday Party: Part 2

**The next chapter, finally...**

* * *

An hour later, the guests had all arrived and the party had and Frank were there with their son Sam, as well as Kaitlin and her boyfriend Sean. A few of Ryan and Taylor's friends were also there with their kids. So far, both Dawn and Frank being there hadn't caused too much of a problem. There was a bit of awkwardness when Frank and Julie arrived, but after that he and Dawn basically stayed away from each other.

Taylor stood at the back door, peering at the guests who were spread out throughout the backyard, making sure everything was running smoothly on Emily's big day. She was also trying to distract herself from the nausea that had been present in her stomach all morning. There was no way Taylor was going to let herself be sick at her daughter's first birthday party.

From what Taylor could see, everything was going fine. Kirsten, Dawn, Julie and one of Taylor's friends, Jenny were trying to organise a 'Pass-The-Parcel' game with Emily, Lucy, Sophie, Sam and the other children, though some were too little to know what was going on. Seth also joined in this game, throwing his fist up in the air triumphantly when he won a tiny stuffed bear. "It's for the baby," he remarked to Summer who was sitting nearby with Kaitlin and Sean. She just shook her head at her husband, making a comment on his lack of maturity before continuing her conversation with Kaitlin and Sean.

Sandy, Frank, Ryan and a few of Ryan and Taylor's friends were standing a few metres away from the game, talking and laughing at Julie's attempts to get a 1-year-old to let go of the parcel. "Julie, give up she's not going to let go," one of the men, Justin said, referring to his daughter Lauren.

"But the other children need to have turns too," Julie protested, refusing to let go of the parcel trapped in the toddlers little hands. "It's Emily's birthday and she even hasn't gotten a prize yet. And how did Seth win a prize?"

"He was whinging so I just let him have one," Kirsten replied, sounding like she had been talking about her two-year-old son, rather than her adult son.

"I resent that," Seth started, glaring at his mother, "I was complaining, not whinging."

Meanwhile, the new puppy was having a blast, running around sniffing all the guests, rolling around on the grass and playing with some of the children.

The party was pretty perfect, in an extremely strange way. It was nothing like the flashy Newport parties Taylor had been to over the years, but everyone was having a good time and that was all she had hoped for. Well, there was an exception to 'everyone', and it came in the form of Veronica Townsend. She had been sitting away from the rest of the party guests for the last half hour, sipping her champagne and looking like she would rather be anywhere but where she was. Taylor frowned at her mother, and contemplated going up to her, but decided against it because she didn't want to make a scene.

Taylor was suddenly distracted by the sound of the oven timer, alerting her that her mini quiches were now ready. Ignoring,the feeling of light-headedness she was experiencing, Taylor retreated back to the kitchen. As she grabbed an oven mit and took the two trays of quiches out of the oven, Ryan entered the kitchen. "Hey honey, you having a good time?" Taylor greeted him with a smile as she set down the last tray on the kitchen bench.

"Yeah, it's great," he replied. "Everyone's having a great time, except for your mother but she doesn't really count as a person. I think of her more as the devil incarnate, satan, the female form of Lucifer..."

"Yeah, I get your point," she remarked, as she transferred the quiches onto 2 serving plates. She then handed one of the plates to Ryan, "Pass this around and when your done, come back for the next plate. Oh and I really think you should start cooking the sausages on the bbq soon or they're not going to be ready in time for lunch," -she glanced at her watch- "it's already 11:30 and I wanted to serve lunch at around 1:00."

"Okay okay," Ryan nodded. "I'll start cooking the sausages. Tay, maybe you should come and sit with everyone now, you know relax a little," he suggested. "You should be enjoying Emily's party too."

"Believe me I'd love to, but there's too much to do," she remarked, as she made her way over to the refridgerator and took out two dishes of raw sausages and set them on the kitchen table.

"Don't worry about it," Ryan argued. "Just leave everything and come and socialise with everyone."

"I'll come out soon okay? Just give me 15 minutes," Taylor gave in.

"Okay but if you're not outside in 15 minutes I'm going to come back and get you myself," he warned his wife with a smirk.

Taylor just rolled her eyes and smiled as Ryan kissed her on the cheek, picked up the plates of sausages and the plate of quiches and left the room, just as Dawn entered. Ryan stopped to say hello to her before continuing to the backyard.

"Hi Taylor," Dawn greeted her, "need any help?"

"Uh, let's see..." she thought for a moment, looking around the kitchen. "Could you finish making the potato salad for me? The potatoes and the sauce are already made in the fridge, you just have to put them together."

"Sure," she replied walking towards the fridge.

"Thanks so much Dawn," Taylor smiled as she began to finish cutting up the cucumber for a salad that she had started to do earlier.

"No problem Taylor, I'm happy to help," she responded as she set the bowl of potatoes and the bowl of sauce on the kitchen bench and began to prepare them.

Taylor couldn't put her finger on it, but Dawn didn't seem like herself. Not that Taylor had known her very long to know what she usually acted like, but she could sense that something just wasn't right with Dawn. She didn't look happy at all infact, she looked miserable. Taylor was alarmed by her sudden realization and began to worry about what was wrong with Dawn.

Being the meddler she was, Taylor couldn't help herself and had to ask Dawn what was wrong, "Are you alright Dawn?" she asked, looking at the older women with concern. "You don't seem...well you just don't seem to be yourself today. What's the matter?"

Dawn looked up, suddenly being caught off-guard. "What are you talking about? I'm fine." She forced a smile to emphasize her statement.

"You're not fine," Taylor replied cautiously, not wanting to be too pushy. "I can tell by your body language and the way you're talking. Something's up."

"Taylor..."

"I'm sorry, I'm meddling aren't I? It's really a big problem but I'm working on it, I swear," she assured Dawn. The two women were silent for a moment before Taylor said gently, "Whatever it is, you can tell me Dawn."

Dawn looked at her reluctantly, "Alright...but you have to promise not to tell Ryan about this. I want to be the one to tell him, you know break it to him gently so he doesn't feel like it's his fault-"

"My rambling must be contagious," Taylor smiled, trying to liven up the mood a bit. "I wonder if that's ever been scientifically proven?"

"Was I rambling?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Sorry," Dawn apologized. "Anyway, the thing is...well...Greg and I, we've decided to get a divorce."

Taylor gasped, "Oh my God!" She set down the knife she was using and turned to direct her full attention towards the other woman, "I thought you guys were working things out."

"We tried Taylor!" Dawn exclaimed. "Believe me, we tried! The last thing either one of us wanted to do was get a divorce."

"Have you considered seeing a marriage counsellor?"

"What? Paying someone 100 bucks an hour to listen to your marital problems and private feelings...no thanks."

"Well, someone who's not emotionally involved in the situation could really help you," Taylor persisted.

Dawn shook her head, "No, I really wouldn't feel comfortable. And besides I filed for divorce a couple of days ago, the papers are going through as we speak and it will be finalized in a couple of months."

"I just- I don't believe this is happening," she replied. "Don't you love each other? Isn't that all you need to want to work on your problems to save your marriage?"

"Of course I love him, but it's a little more complicated than that," Dawn explained. "When your trust of a person who love is broken it's hard to rebuild, especially when the lie was about something so important to me."

Taylor sighed, "So there's nothing I can do to change your mind?"

She shook her head, "I'm sorry Taylor, my mind is made up. And once my minds made up, there's no point even trying to change it."

"Now I know where Ryan gets his stubbornness from," she replied. "Speaking of which, you know Ryan's going to blame himself for this, don't you?"

"I know," she nodded, "which is why I'm going to sit him down and have a talk with him tomorrow. I don't want to spoil Emily's party. I shouldn't have even told you. You shouldn't be spending today worrying about my problems."

Taylor smiled, "Well regardless, I'm glad you told me."

Suddenly, Ryan returned to the kitchen carrying an empty plate, "Well the quiches were a hit."

"That's great," Taylor nodded, smiling half-heartedly. Dawn also nodded.

Ryan looked from his wife to his mother and raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What's going on?"

"Nothing!" they both replied in unison.

"Yeah, Dawn and I were just getting a bit emotional thinking about Emily being so grown up," Taylor added.

"Honey, she's one."

"Uh...yeah...but she'll never be 11 months again. That's pretty sad."

Ryan looked at Taylor skeptically, "Okay. Now are you two going to tell me what's really going on?"

"I should go serve the next plate of quiches," Dawn said, quickly picking up the serving plate and making her way out of the kitchen.

Ryan looked at Taylor, implying that he wanted an explanation. "What? Why are you looking at me?" she asked.

"I know you know what's going on, just tell me."

"I can't, I've been sworn to secrecy."

"By my mother?"

"Maybe..."

"Oh come on Taylor!" Ryan persisted. "If this involves my Mom, don't you think I have a right to know."

"Look," she began seriously. "She'll tell you everything tomorrow, I promise. But for now, can't you just let it go and let everyone, including yourself, enjoy our daughter's birthday party?"

For a moment, Taylor thought that she had actually gotten through to him. "But why can't she just tell me now?" Ryan asked.

"Geez Ryan! Can you just listen to me for once in your life!"

"Okay, okay. I'll let it go...for now," he finally gave in. They were silent for a moment before Ryan remarked, "I'd better warn Emily and the baby about this temper of yours. They'll definitely never want to cross you."

"I don't have a temper."

"Then what do you call that huge outburst that came out of nowhere a few seconds ago?"

"That's not a temper, it's called frustration mixed with hormones. This pregnancy is really screwing with my emotions," Taylor commented. "Not to mention my digestive system," she added, clutching her stomach as she was overcome with another wave of nausea.

"You alright?" Ryan asked, wrapping one arm around her waist.

"Yeah, I just feel really nauseas," she replied, resting her head against his chest and shutting her eyes.

Ryan wrapped his arms around Taylor and rubbed her back in attempt to comfort her, "You know, we should really ask the doctor about this nausea. I don't think it's normal to be this sick all the time." After a few seconds, Taylor still hadn't replied, "Taylor?" he said. Ryan moved her away from him and realized with a panic, that Taylor was unconscious. "Oh my God! Taylor!" He moved her to the floor, laying her down with her head resting on his lap, "Someone help!" Ryan called out, hoping someone from the party would hear him.

Kirsten, who had been heading to the kitchen to help Taylor, was the first to hear Ryan's call for help. She ran into the kitchen and gasped when she saw Taylor on the floor. "Oh my God, what happened Ryan?"

"I don't- I don't know," he stuttered, panicking. "She felt sick and she just passed out...I don't know what happened."

"It's alright, just keep her there," Kirsten replied, picking up the phone. "I'm calling an ambulance."

Kaitlin and Summer entered the kitchen as Kirsten finished dialling. "Oh my God, Taylor!" Summer exclaimed as she and Kaitlin knelt down beside her.

"What the hell happened Ryan? Is she okay? Is the baby okay?" Kaitlin demanded.

"I don't know!" he exclaimed. "If I did know, I wouldn't be freaking out so much, would I?!"

Kaitlin was silent. Ryan had never yelled at her like that before. She decided to keep her mouth shut until the ambulance arrived.

"The ambulance is on it's way now," Kirsten announced, resting her hand on Ryan's shoulder. "Don't worry, she's going to be okay."

* * *

The ambulance ride seemed like the longest 20 minutes in Ryan's entire life...

Longer than the extra 20 minutes he had to wait when Taylor's plane from France had been delayed when she returned home from college.

Longer than the 20 minutes he had stood at the end of the aisle, with Seth as his best man, on his and Taylor's wedding day, waiting for her to walk down the aisle and marry him.

And even longer than the hour long car ride he took from his business meeting to the hospital, when Summer had called and told him that Taylor had gone into labour with Emily.

The paramedics in the ambulance did all they could to help Taylor and did their best to reassure Ryan that his wife and unborn child would be okay. Regardless of this, Ryan was terrified. All he could think of was losing Taylor and/or the baby.

When they arrived at the hospital, Taylor was wheeled away by a bunch of hospital staff and through a blue plastic door and out of Ryan's sight. He had no choice but to sit, wait and play over different scenarios of what could happen to Taylor and the baby in his mind, each more horrible than the last. Luckily, a few minutes later Kirsten, Sandy and Veronica showed up and distracted him from his thoughts. They were followed by, Summer, Kaitlin and Frank. Dawn, Julie, Seth and Sean had stayed behind at the house to mind the kids and the rest of the guests had been sent home with promises of phone calls to let them know how Taylor was doing.

The group of eight sat in the waiting room, anxiously awaiting news from Taylor's doctor. Half an hour later, a nurse emerged from behind two large sheets of blue plastic that acted as a door between the waiting room and the hallway of patients' rooms. She glanced down at her clipboard, then announced, "Ryan Atwood?"

Ryan jumped up from his seat, "How is she? Is the baby okay? Can I see her?"

"The doctor will answer all your questions in a moment," she replied. "For now, your wife is awake and she's asking to see you."

"What about me?" Veronica asked, storming over to the nurse. "I'm her mother, I demand that I be allowed to see her."

"Uh, I think one person is all she'll be able to handle at the moment mam."

"That's outrageous! She's pregnant, not terminally ill! Let me see my daughter!"

"Veronica!" Ryan exclaimed. "I know you're worried, we all are, but just let me go in and see her and I'll come let you know if I find out anything. Okay?"

She nodded, sitting back down, "Thank you Ryan."

Ryan took a split second to be surprised that a nice thing had actually come out of Veronica's mouth, before following the nurse through the blue plastic doors.

* * *

When he saw Taylor sitting up in her hospital bed, awake but slightly drowsy, Ryan sighed in relief.

"Ryan," she said extending her arms to hug him.

Ryan returned the hug happily, holding onto her tightly. As they pulled away, he realized that Taylor had been crying, "Are you okay?"

"I-I don't know," she sobbed. "they won't tell me anything, it's ridiculous."

"I know. Look, I'm going to go find someone who can tell us what the hell is going on," Ryan said to her.

"No, don't leave," Taylor replied, shuffling over to one side of the bed. She patted the spot next to her, "Here, come sit with me."

Ryan nodded, not being able to disagree with his distraught wife. He sat down next to her on the bed and wrapped his arms around her, "I'm sure everything's fine."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"No I'm not. Everything will be fine," he replied. "It has to be."

"Oh my God, where's Emily?" Taylor asked suddenly.

"Don't worry, she's at home with Seth."

"That's supposed to make me feel better?"

"Oh, don't worry, Dawn, Julie and Sean are with him," he assured her.

"I can't believe I ruined our daughter's birthday party," Taylor groaned.

"I don't think she minds," Ryan replied. "I'm sure she'd rather have her Mommy safe. Besides, she's not even going to remember the party. We can just tell her it was a huge success."

"But we didn't even get a chance to cut the cake, or take pictures."

"So we'll dress her up and take a picture of her with some balloons and a cake, she won't know the difference," he joked, trying to liven up the mood a bit.

"That's terrible," Taylor smiled weakly.

"I know," he replied.

They sat in silence for a moment, until the doctor finally came in. "Hi Doctor Miller," Taylor said softly.

Ryan nodded politely, "Doctor Miller."

"We had a bit of a scare today, didn't we?" Doctor Miller replied. "Well I just want to begin by assuring you that your baby is fine."

"Oh thank God," Taylor said, sighing in relief.

"So why did she pass out?" Ryan asked.

"I'd say a lack of energy and dehydration. Have you eaten anything today Mrs Atwood?" the doctor asked.

"Well I ate a piece of toast this morning, but I just ended up throwing it up," Taylor explained. "Throughout this pregnancy I haven't been able to keep anything down."

"Hmm...well I'm going to prescribe you some pills specially made for extreme cases of morning sickness," Doctor Miller announced. "You'll also have to try to take it easy over the next 5 months. Eat a healthy, balanced diet and try to get at least 8 hours of sleep each night."

Taylor nodded, "I can do that."

"I also want to keep you here overnight for observation, just to be safe" the doctor continued. "I'll be back in a few hours to check on you."

"Thank you Doctor," Ryan nodded, shaking his hand.

"Yes, thank you so much," Taylor added.

When the doctor left the room, Ryan turned to Taylor, "So do you think you can handle taking in easy?"

"Of course," she replied. He looked at her skeptically. "I know it's going to be difficult for me, but if it's for the health of our baby I can do it."

Ryan smiled and kissed his wife gently, "I'm just so glad you're both okay. When I was in that ambulance with you, all I could think of was losing you or the baby."

"Well you don't have to think about that anymore, because we're okay," Taylor smiled.

"Yeah, thank God."

Suddenly, Taylor thought of what had happened earlier with Dawn, "Ryan, you really need to find time to talk to your mom."

"What's that all about anyway?"

"I told you, I can't tell you," she replied. "You'll have to ask her."

Ryan sighed, knowing he would never get anything out of Taylor.

* * *

Ryan had spent the last few hours at the hospital with Taylor and had just gotten home at 8:00pm. By this time, everyone but Veronica and Dawn had gone home, since they were staying over that night. They had stayed at Ryan and Taylor's house to look after Emily while Ryan had been at the hospital.

Ryan finally arrived home and was greeted at the door by his daughter, who walked as quickly as she could towards him squealing, "Dada!" She was followed by the puppy who jumped up on Ryan, wagging her tail happily.

He smiled and patted the puppy, before picking Emily up and giving her a hug, "Hey kiddo, I missed you today."

"Mama?" she said, looking at her father for an answer.

"Mommy's not here sweetie, but she's coming home tomorrow, I promise," he replied.

The toddler just stared back at him blankly with a frown on her face, looking like she was about to cry.

"Oh don't worry Em, Daddy's here," Ryan said, smiling at her reassuringly. "And so is Grandma Dawn and Grandma Veronica."

"Grandma Veronica!" Veronica exclaimed as she came into the living room with Dawn. "You're making me sound like an 80-year-old!"

"Well what do you want your grand-daughter to call you?" Ryan asked her.

"Something not so embarrassing for starters," she rolled her eyes.

"How's Taylor doing?" Dawn asked, changing the subject before things got ugly.

"Better," Ryan nodded. "She just needs to take it easy over the next few months and she'll be fine."

"That's good news."

"Yeah, I was expecting the worst this morning."

"I think we all were," Veronica added. "But the important thing is Taylor and the baby are both okay."

Ryan nodded. "Uh, why don't I go make us some dinner?"

"You, cook dinner?" Dawn smirked, glancing at Veronica, who also smirked.

"Ryan I doubt you can cook toast," Veronica added. "If it wasn't for Taylor you would have starved to death by now."

He pretended to act shocked, "As a matter of fact, I make the best damn toast in the country. I'll prove it to you right now," he added, setting Emily down. Ryan then made his way towards the kitchen, with the puppy following close behind him.

Veronica and Dawn looked and each other and laughed. Veronica then took Emily by the hand and said to her, "Emily sweetie, why don't we go find the take-out menus, cos if we rely on your Daddy we'll be eating burnt toast."

"I think the menus are in the draw over there," Dawn said, pointing. "I'm going to go see if Ryan's burnt down the house yet."

Dawn then left Veronica and Emily and went into the kitchen to talk to Ryan. He had just gotten the toaster out and was putting a few pieces of toast in it.

"I wouldn't bother with the toast," Dawn said, "Veronica's already going for the take-out menus."

"She doesn't trust me?"

"I don't think anyone trusts your culinary abilities honey," she replied, "no offense." Dawn suddenly noticed the puppy sitting at Ryan's feet. "That dog really likes you, doesn't she?"

"Yeah," Ryan agreed, looking down at the dog. "She's been following me around since she got here, I don't know why."

"She knows who her Dad is already."

Ryan then decided to change the subject to what had been bothering him for the last few hours, "So, what's the big secret you and Taylor are keeping from me?" he asked.

Dawn sighed, "I knew you would bring this up."

"Of course I am, I want to know what's going on."

"Okay," she nodded, "I'll tell you, but you can't blame yourself for this Ryan. This is between Greg and I, it has nothing to do with you, or anything you did."

Ryan nodded, "Go on."

Dawn took a deep breath, "Greg and I....are getting a divorce."

"Oh no, Mom you can't," he protested. "Not because of me."

"What did I say about blaming yourself?"

"Well its kind of hard not to when it's my fault!" Ryan argued. "If I hadn't been so overprotective and didn't do that background check on Greg, none of this would have happened."

"You were looking out for me Ry and I appreciate it, I really do," Dawn smiled. "But Greg and I have decided that this is the best thing for both of us and I need you to accept it too."

"Are you sure this is really what you want?" he asked. "Because if it is, I'll let you get the divorce and I won't interfere."

She looked at him seriously, "This is what I want."

Ryan was silent for a moment before murmering, "Okay."

"Thanks Ry," Dawn smiled, pulling her son into a hug.

Ryan returned the hug, surprised by how comfortable he felt with his mother for the first time in his life.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! By the way, I need people to suggest names for the dog (girl names) and names for the baby which can be boys and girls names since I haven't decided what it will be yet. Include these in your reviews please =D thanks.**


	8. Double Trouble

**Here's the next chapter which is mostly cute stuff, very little drama. Hope you like it. I've kind of accelerated Emily's age a bit in this chapter, it's two months on but Emily's one and a half when really she should be one year and two months. I really wanted her to start interacting with Ryan and Taylor more so that's why I made her a bit older.**

**By the way, sorry about the wait. I've been writing this chapter for a while and I really wanted it to be perfect. Anyway, please review :) **

**Plot: Taylor and Emily spend two days without Ryan who is out of town on a business trip. While Ryan's away, Taylor must deal with her toddler, who really misses her father, as well as exciting news about her pregnancy.**

* * *

_Morning - Ryan and Taylor's House_

"I don't think this is such a good idea," Ryan said hesitantly, setting his suitcase down by the front door.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked.

"I don't feel right leaving you here by yourself when you're pregnant," he explained. "You've got to look after Emily and the dog-"

"Oh don't be silly, you have to go," she smiled. "Besides, I'm only 5 months along, although I know it seems like more considering how big I am." She set her hands on her ever-expanding stomach with a sigh.

"Yeah what's going on with that?"

"I don't know," Taylor replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Which is why I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to find out."

"See? If I go I'll miss your doctor's appointment," Ryan said. "I can't go, I'll just call work and-"

"No, you're going. You love your job, what's gotten into you?" she interrupted him. He sighed. "Come on honey, it's one night. You'll be back tomorrow afternoon and I'll fill you in on everything. I promise."

"You sure you're going to be okay?" he asked. "Tell me honestly. It's really no trouble for me to assign someone else the job of running this conference."

"Yes, I'll be fine. Now go," Taylor said, kissing him goodbye.

"Okay," he gave in. He then knelt down in front of his daughter and smiled, "Can you give Daddy a big hug Em?" The toddler smiled and threw her arms around Ryan's neck, hugging him tightly. "I promise I'll be back tomorrow, okay?" he said, kissing Emily on the cheek. "I love you." He then patted their Golden Retriever puppy, Lady who was named after the dog from _Lady and the Tramp,_ Taylor's favourite movie when she was a child. "Don't be bad for your mom while I'm gone okay Lady? Don't steal any of our clothes either, she can't run after you as fast as she used to."

"Hey!" Taylor exclaimed. Ryan smirked at his wife, then stood up to say goodbye to her one more time. "Ryan, you're being ridiculous," Taylor said. "You're acting like you're going away for a month, rather than one night."

"Well I'm sorry that I'm going to miss my family," he replied.

She smiled, "Think of it this way, the quicker you leave, the quicker you'll be home."

Ryan smiled, kissing his wife one last time before picking up his suitcase and opening the front door. "Bye."

"Bye-bye dada," Emily said softly, waving sadly.

Taylor also waved as Ryan turned and made his way towards his car, then closed the front door. Emily looked up at her mother and pouted sadly. Taylor's heart broke, "Oh honey, it's alright. Daddy will be home soon, don't you worry." The toddler nodded, but continued to pout. "Come on baby, Mommy's still here," Taylor smiled, leading her daughter towards the living room. She thought for a moment, before coming up with a brilliant idea to get Emily's mind off her father. "Emily, how would you like to help Mommy in the kitchen?"

"Help?" the little girl repeated, a smile appearing on her face.

"Yeah," Taylor nodded. "How about we make some choc-chip cookies?"

"Yay!" Emily squealed excitedly, running for the kitchen as fast as her little legs would carry her, with Lady following close behind. The dog had become quite protective of Emily, even sleeping beside her bed at night. The canine had won her way into the hearts of Ryan and Emily, then eventually even Taylor. Lady was one of the family now.

* * *

Taylor and Emily managed to make it through the day without the toddler getting upset about Ryan. It was now 8:00pm, which meant it was time for Emily to start getting ready for bed. Now this, was going to be a problem. Ryan was always the one that put her to bed, and it was going to be difficult trying to convince the 1 and a half-year-old to go to sleep without a goodnight kiss from her daddy.

"Okay sweetie, what story do you want to read tonight?" Taylor asked after she had Emily in her pajamas and sitting in bed. Lady looked on quietly from the floor beside them. "We have _Goldilocks and the Three Bears_ or _Cinderella_."

"Goddy-lock!" Emily exclaimed.

"'Goddy-lock' it is then," Taylor smiled as she sat down beside her daughter on the bed and opened the book.

Emily frowned, "No."

"What's the matter Em?"

"Daddy," she explained simply.

"Aw honey, Daddy's not here tonight," Taylor said to her gently. "But Mommy will do her best with reading the story okay?"

"No!" she exclaimed, stubbornly. She folded her arms across her chest and put on her infamous pouting face. Taylor was always so surprised at how much her daughter looked like Ryan when she did this.

"Emily," Taylor warned her. "I know you miss Daddy but there's no need to be rude to Mommy."

Suddenly the little girl burst into tears. Taylor sighed, pulling her daughter into her arms, "Maybe we should skip the story tonight baby?"

She shook her head and said softly, "Daddy..."

"Daddy's not here Emily, he won't be home until tomorrow afternoon."

"Mommy get Daddy?"

"Oh honey, I can't-" Taylor stopped for a moment, suddenly having an idea. "Okay, I'll get Daddy." She set Emily down on her bed and pulled the covers over her. "You wait here okay?" Emily nodded. Taylor then left the room and went to her and Ryan's bedroom to get the cordless phone. She dialed Ryan's cell phone number and waited for him to answer.

* * *

At this time, Ryan was at a business dinner with a few of his major clients and colleagues. They had just ordered their main course and were waiting for it to be served when Ryan's cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and realised it was home calling. "Sorry, I've got to take this," he excused himself to the other people at the table.

"Is it Mr Martin about the hospital account?" one of the men, Jim asked.

"Nope it's just my wife," Ryan replied.

"Checking up on you huh?" laughed an older, slightly overweight man who happened to be the CEO of one of the companies Ryan's company was designing an office building for. The other men laughed at this comment.

"Yeah, something like that," he said, flipping open his phone to answer it. "Hi honey."

"Hey," Taylor replied.

"Is something wrong?" he asked. "I just called you about an hour ago."

"No, well kind of," she stammered, making her way down the hallway towards Emily's room. "Nothing big. It's just, Emily really misses you and wants you to read her a bedtime story."

"Taylor, I'm kind of an hour plane trip away at the moment."

"I know," she rolled her eyes, leaning against the door frame of her daughter's room. "Which is why thought you could read to her over the phone. You don't happen to know the cliff notes version of _Goldilocks and the Three Bears_, do you?"

"This is kind of a bad time for that-" he started.

"Please Ryan?" Taylor asked. "Your daughter's really upset and she won't go to sleep unless you read to her."

"Okay," Ryan gave in, "put her on."

"Thank you," she said greatfully, making her way over to Emily's bed and sitting down beside her. "Okay honey, Daddy's going to read you the story on the phone okay?" Emily wiped her eyes and nodded, as Taylor put the phone on speaker.

"Emily?" Ryan said. "It's Daddy."

"Daddy!" she grinned happily.

"Hey," he smiled. "Mommy tells me you want to read a story."

"Yeah," Emily replied. "Goddy-locks!"

"Okay, open to the first page," he started. He looked up at the other men at the table who were giving him weird looks. "It's my daughter," he explained, standing up from the table in order to avoid any more embarrassment.

"What?" Taylor said in confusion.

"Don't worry, I was talking to a few of the guys here," he replied, as he made his way over to a quieter part of the restaurant. "Anyway, as I was saying. Once upon a time there was a little girl named Goldilocks..."

* * *

_10 minutes later_

"...And Goldilocks ran out of the house and never bothered the bears again," Ryan finally concluded. "The end."

"Okay honey, are you ready to go to bed now?" Taylor asked her daughter, who was looking very sleepy at this point. Emily nodded and yawned. "I thought so."

"So we all good?" Ryan asked over the phone.

"Yes, thanks honey," Taylor replied.

"No problem, anyway I've got to go, our food's being served."

"Okay, say goodnight to Daddy Emily," she said, brushing Emily's blonde curls off her face with her hand.

'' 'night Dada..." she said sleepily.

"Goodnight, I love you both."

"We love you too. I'll call you tomorrow," Taylor said.

"Bye," Ryan replied, before shutting his phone and then making his way back to the table.

* * *

"Goodnight Emily," Taylor whispered as she kissed her daughter on the head. "Sweet dreams." She also pat Lady on the head, turned on Emily's night light then finally turned off the ceiling light.

As she exited the room, Taylor suddenly felt a kick in her abdomen. She smiled and rested her hand on her stomach, "No I haven't forgotten about you baby." She looked down at her stomach, "I love you, little one. Goodnight."

* * *

The next morning, Taylor drove over to Sandy and Kirsten's house to drop off Emily before her doctor's appointment. Kirsten was very excited to have her. It was her day off, Sandy was at work and Sophie was at school, so she enjoyed having her grand daughter for company. After thanking Kirsten again for baby-sitting, Taylor left for her doctor's appointment, waving to Kirsten and Emily, who were standing on the front porch, as she drove away. On the car ride to the doctor's office, Taylor was feeling extremely nervous. She wished that Ryan was there to calm her down. Whenever she was freaking out about something, he would simply take her hand and squeeze it, letting her know that he was there for her, no matter what happened.

Taylor knew she was being ridiculous. Her husband had only been away for 24 hours and already she was missing him like crazy. Just a day ago, she had been the one to tell Ryan that he was being ridiculous about this trip. Now, she was being even more irrational. Not that that was unusual for her. Ryan would be back that afternoon and everything would return to normal again. She just had to get through the next few hours without him.

* * *

Half an hour later, Taylor was sitting on an examination bed waiting for Doctor Miller. She looked around the room nervously, wishing the doctor would hurry up and come in already._ Doctors,_ she thought to herself, rolling her eyes, _Never on time for an appointment._ Taylor frowned in annoyance. The one thing she couldn't stand was when people weren't punctual.

Suddenly the door opened, startling Taylor. Dr Miller entered with a smile on her face, "Hello Taylor, how are you?"

"I'm good thank you, how are you?" she replied politely.

"Fine thank you," the doctor nodded. "How have you been feeling? Are you still getting bad morning sickness?"

"No, not at all," she shook her head. "The medication you gave me is really working."

"That's good to hear, it means I've done my job," Doctor Miller smiled. "Now if you don't mind lying back on the bed." Taylor laid back on the uncomfortable plastic awkwardly. "Now, we're going to do an ultrasound today. Then I'd like to take a blood sample just to make sure your hormone levels are balanced. Nothing to worry about, just standard procedure."

Taylor nodded, "Doctor? Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, what do you want to know?"

"Well, I was just wondering, is there any particular reason why I'm getting so big during this pregnancy?"

"You could just been having a big baby," the doctor shrugged. "We'll check on that during the ultrasound."

"That's strange, my last baby was only small," Taylor replied.

"Well, every pregnancy is different," Dr Miller explained. "I've seen many cases where the same woman has a big baby in her first pregnancy, then a small in her second and vice versa. It's perfectly normally." Taylor still didn't look convinced. "But, as I said, I'll look into it during the ultrasound, just to make sure," she added, seeing the look on Taylor's face.

"Thank you Doctor," she responded, as the doctor turned on the ultrasound machine. As the machine started up, the image of the baby started to appear on the screen beside the bed.

Taylor looked up at the screen worriedly, "Is everything okay?"

"Everything seems normal..." she started, examining the screen carefully. "Hmmm. Interesting..." Doctor Miller muttered.

"What's interesting? What is it?" Taylor asked, starting to panic at little. "Please don't tell me my baby had two heads or something."

"Well there are two heads, you got that part right," the doctor smiled.

"What?!" Taylor exclaimed. "I was just kidding! Don't tell me it's true!"

"Taylor, it's alright. I promise, your babies only have one head each," she assured her.

"Oh thank god," she breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly it hit her, "Wait a minute, babies? Did you say babies? As in the plural of baby?"

Doctor Miller nodded, "That's right, I believe you're having twins."

"Twins!" Taylor exclaimed, a smile creeping onto her face. "Oh my god, really?"

She nodded, pointing to the screen. "See? Here's one baby and there's the other baby." Taylor just looked at the screen in shock. "And if we turn this on" -Doctor Miller turned a knob on the machine- "we can hear their heartbeats."

When she heard the sound of the babies' heartbeats, Taylor felt tears come into her eyes, "Wow," she whispered, unable to take her eyes off of the screen. She continued watching the babies for a moment. "I don't understand, why didn't we find this out during my last ultrasound?"

"Well often, one baby may be behind the other, which makes it difficult to see both babies, especially in the first trimester," Doctor Miller explained. "It happens all the time."

"Oh," Taylor replied. "How cute, they're already playing hide-and-seek together." She smiled proudly.

"They're also identical twins," she added.

"Really?" she smiled. The doctor nodded. "Oh my God. I can't wait to tell my husband. Can I have a picture of them to show him?"

"Of course."

Taylor was ecstatic. She and Ryan were having twins! Identical twins to be exact. She couldn't wait to tell him.

* * *

_Afternoon - Ryan and Taylor's House_

Taylor was proud of herself. She had kept the twins a secret for the last 5 hours. She hadn't told Kirsten when she went to pick up Emily. She hadn't even told Summer when she called an hour ago. Taylor was particularly proud that she hadn't called Ryan and told him. It was very tempting, but she knew that it would be even better seeing his face when she told him. Besides, someone had to be there if he passed out. Taylor counted down the hours until Ryan would come home. It took everything in her to stop herself from calling everyone she knew to tell them the good news. She would tell her husband first, the rest of the world could wait.

Ryan was due home in a few minutes. Taylor was sitting in the living room waiting for him. She could barely contain herself she was so happy. Emily was oblivious to her mother's excitement, sitting on the floor in front of her playing with her doll house. As she watched her daughter, she smiled happily at the thought of having two more babies around the house in just a few months.

Finally, Taylor heard the door open and Ryan's voice call out, "I'm home!"

"Daddy!" Emily squealed, running out of the living room and into the arms of her father.

"Emily!" Ryan exclaimed, lifting her up into his arms and hugging her tightly. He then carried her into the living room where he was greeted with a hug from Taylor.

"Welcome home," she smiled, planting a kiss on her husband's lips.

"It's good to be home," he replied. "I missed you both so much."

"You won't believe how much we missed you, didn't we Em?" Taylor said, kissing her daughter on the cheek. Emily nodded enthusiastically. "It's so nice to have you back."

Ryan smiled. "So did I miss anything when I was gone?" he said, setting Emily down on the floor. "How was your doctor's appointment?"

"That's actually what I've got to talk to you about," she said, trying to contain her smile.

"Why? What happened?"

"You're not going to believe it."

"Believe what?" Ryan asked, taking his wife's hands in his.

"Uh, maybe you should sit down first," Taylor said, gesturing to the couch.

"Okay..." he said, as they both sat down. "What is it?"

"Well..." she started, not being able to contain her excitement any longer. "You know how we noticed that I'm pretty big, considering how far along I am?"

"Yeah, did you find out why?"

"Actually I did," Taylor grinned, preparing herself for what she was about to say. She took a deep breath then announced, "Ryan, we're having twins!"

Ryan laughed, "Yeah, right. You're very funny."

"No, I'm serious," she retorted. "We're having twins. Identical twins to be exact." The smile disappeared off Ryan's face and was replaced with a look of confusion. Taylor clapped her hands together excitedly, "Isn't that great?"

"Twins," he repeated slowly. She nodded. "Two babies?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Honey, you're not catching on very quickly here."

"Twins," Ryan repeated again, resting his head on the back of the lounge, his eyes wide in shock.

"Didn't we just go through this?"

He suddenly turned his head back to her, "Taylor we're not just going to have one more kid in a few months....we're going to have two! What are we going to do?"

"We'll handle it," she said, reassuringly. "It'll be hard, but we'll get through it." Ryan looked skeptical. She grabbed his hands gently, "Honey, this is a good thing. It's an amazing thing. You know how lucky we are? Only 32 of every 1000 pregnancies results in twins."

"How do you know that?"

"I googled it," Taylor shrugged. "The point is, this is a great thing that's happened to us. I'm really happy about it, aren't you?"

"Yes, of course I'm happy about it. It just takes a bit of getting used to."

"I know. I'm still getting used to it myself."

They sat in silence for a moment, both thinking about the news they had received that day. "Tay?" Ryan said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?" She looked up at him.

"This is really amazing news," he said simply.

Taylor smiled and had to hug him. Ryan also smiled but inside his mind he was still freaking out a little. _Oh my God. Twins!_ he thought to himself nervously. How on earth were they going to handle this?

"Oh my God, I have to call Summer!" Taylor exclaimed. She leaned over, grabbed the phone and started dialling the number. "I was putting off telling her because I wanted to tell you first, but now you know so I can tell everyone!" She put the phone to her ear and grinned at Ryan. After a moment Taylor exclaimed loudly, "Summer! You're not going to believe this, Ryan and I are having twins!"

Ryan shook his head with a smile as his wife squealed into the phone. He could also hear Summer squealing excitedly, and he didn't even have his ear to the phone. He looked down at Emily, who looked up at him with her big blue eyes, "Enjoy the peace now kiddo, 'cause it's going to get crazy around here very soon."

"Cazy?" the toddler repeated.

Ryan nodded, "Very crazy."

* * *

**Reviews are welcome!**


	9. A Chrismukkah To Remember: Part 1

****

This chapter is set 3 months after the last one and features a flashback from 6 years earlier.

**Plot: Ryan and Taylor celebrate a very eventful Chrismukkah...**

* * *

"Gather 'round kids," Seth announced, taking a seat on the floor in front of the Christmas tree. Christmas, or Chrismukkah Eve was Seth's favourite night of Chrismukkah and he tended to get over-excited. "I'm about to tell the epic story of the best holiday ever invented, Chrismukkah."

Ryan, Taylor and Kirsten all rolled their eyes as they watched the Seth's spectacle from the couch.

"Seth? Why can't we just celebrate either Christmas or Hanukka like normal people?" Sophie asked, sitting down beside her brother.

Seth gasped, and brought a hand to his chest as if he was in pain, "Ouch, Sophie Rose Cohen. I think my heart just broke. How dare you say such a thing."

"Well it seems kinda stupid, celebrating two holidays at the same time," she explained as Emily and Lucy sat down beside her and Seth.

Ryan shook his head, "Don't go there Sophie."

"Yeah, we've been trying to get Seth to give up on Chrismukkah since he was your age," Kirsten said. "You're fighting a losing battle."

"Well, I'm going to celebrate Christmas," Sophie retorted, "just like every other normal family."

"Fine, disregard your heritage," Seth glared at her. "Be a traitor. I know who's not getting a dreidel in their Chrismukkah stocking this year."

"Okay, break it up you two," Kirsten interfered. "Can we at least try to have a nice Chrismukkah-"

"Christmas!" Sophie corrected her.

"Fine, Christmas," Kirsten sighed.

"No, no, no," Seth interrupted. "Don't side with her on this. We're going to celebrate Chrismukkah this year, and every year until I die."

"Why don't we just kill you now and save ourselves the trouble?" Sophie snapped at her brother.

Seth glared at Sophie and was about to respond with a witty comment when he felt a light tug on his sleeve. He looked down at Lucy, who smiled and said, "I like Chrismukkah Daddy."

Seth grinned and lifted the 3-year-old into his lap, "Thank you Lucy, at least one little girl in this family appreciates the miracle of Chrismukkah."

"Who wants their eggnog? Get your eggnog here!" Sandy announced as he carried a tray of mugs into the room. He set the tray down on the coffee table as Sophie and Lucy gathered around him, "Okay there's alcoholic for the adults on the left and non-alcohol for the kids and Taylor on the right."

"Thanks Sandy," Ryan said, leaning over and grabbing two mugs for himself and Taylor.

"Look who's decided to join us," Summer said as she entered the room carrying baby Matthew.

"Aw, Matthew's up!" Taylor grinned happily, holding her arms out to retrieve the baby.

Summer handed the baby to Taylor and took a seat on the couch across from her, sitting beside Sandy. Taylor began to coo at Matthew, making faces and tickling him.

"Taylor?" Summer said.

"Yeah?" she replied, not looking up from the baby.

"You are going to give him back aren't you?"

Taylor grinned, looking up at her, "Maybe. Only if I don't eat him first because he's so adorable."

"Actually we will be giving him back," Ryan said. "I think two more babies in our household is enough."

"I still can't believe you two are having twins," Sandy said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I know, it's pretty crazy," Taylor agreed. "I don't know how we're going to handle it."

"Me either," Ryan nodded.

"Well, you'll always have me and Sandy to help you out if you need it," Kirsten offered.

"And me and Seth," Summer added.

"And don't forget me," Sophie said.

Taylor laughed, "Thanks everyone, that's very sweet."

"Okay everyone," Seth said, standing up from the floor, "Let's get the Christmukkah festivities started! Everyone get out your dreidels."

"We were supposed to bring a dreidel?" Ryan asked, nervously biting his lip.

"Yes," he replied. "How are we supposed to play the dreidel game and sing the dreidel song without them?"

"Do you have your dreidel?" Taylor questioned.

"Of course," he replied. "Summer, the dreidel please."

"I didn't bring your dreidel," she said.

"You didn't?!"

"No, I didn't even know we had a dreidel," Summer retorted.

"What are you talking about? We play it every year!" Seth whined.

"Relax Seth," Sandy said. "We can still sing the dreidel song. Come on son. Ready? One, two, three! I have a little dreidel..." He then motioned for Seth to continue.

"I made it out of clay," he finished.

They both began singing together, "And when it's dry and ready, dreidel I will play. Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay. When it's dry and ready, dreidel I will play!"

Everyone laughed and clapped. "Very nice boys," Kirsten commented. "Just, don't do it again."

"Don't worry, I think I'm all dreideled out," Sandy said.

"Good."

"How about some Christmas songs now?" Sophie suggested.

"Good idea Soph," Summer smiled. "You can choose a Christmas carol."

"Okay," Sophie smiled. She thought for a moment, before beginning, "You better watch out, you better not cry. You better not pout, I'm telling you why."

Everyone joined in, "Santa Claus is coming to town!"

"He's making a list, he's checking it twice. He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice," Sophie sang.

Everyone joined in again, "Santa Claus is coming to town!"

* * *

"That was nice tonight," Taylor said as she slowly sat down on her and Ryan's bed and sat up against the headboard, resting her hands on her growing stomach. "It's nice having a real family to spend the holidays with."

Ryan nodded as he sat down beside her, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I didn't really have any happy Christmases when I was a kid."

"Well it's different now," she said, leaning her head on her husband's shoulder. "We have a wonderful family who love us and actually want to spend Chrismukkah with us."

"I could've done without the dreidel song though," Ryan laughed softly.

"Oh, you loved it," she replied with a smirk. They sat in silence for a moment, before Taylor spoke softly, "Do you remember our first Chrismukkah back together after I came back from France?"

"Of course I do," he said. "That was the day I asked you to marry me."

"Yeah, that was a good Christmukkah," Taylor said, recalling the happy moments they had shared 6 years earlier. "I still remember when I showed up at your apartment after coming back from the airport..."

* * *

_**6 years earlier...**_

_"So, you coming to the folk's house for Chrismukkah Eve dinner tonight?" Seth asked through the phone._

_"Of course, where else would I be going?" Ryan replied as he sat back on the couch in the living room of his apartment._

_"I don't know..." he trailed off. "I just thought that maybe you'd be going to France to surprise Taylor."_

_"No, she doesn't want me to."_

_"But I thought you guys were back together now," Seth protested. "You know after the last visit and the whole 'I don't want to lose you 'cos I love you' thing."_

_"We are back together," Ryan said. "It's just Taylor's__ mother flew all the way over there to spend Christmas with her, so she can't come home yet. And she didn't want me to have to leave the Cohens at Christmas time so she wants me to stay in Berkeley..."_

_"Stupid Veronica, ruining everything," Seth muttered._

_"Believe me, I'm annoyed about this too. I was really looking forward to spending Chrismukkah with my girlfriend for the first time in 2 years," he said, with a frustrated sigh. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. "Hey Seth, can I call you back?"_

_"Sure."_

_"Okay, bye," Ryan said, hanging up the phone. He then left the phone on the kitchen bench and headed for the front door. When he opened the door, he was pleasantly surprised, "Taylor."_

_She grinned, holding her arms up above her head, "Surprise!"_

_Ryan smiled, grabbing Taylor around the waist and spinning her around happily. "You have no idea how good it is to see you! What are you doing here? What happened to your mom?" He set her back down and picked up on of the suitcases she had with her._

_"Oh please,_ _since when does my mother make any extra effort to come and see me," she rolled her eyes, as she rolled her other suitcase into the apartment, closing the door behind her. She then wrapped her arms around Ryan's neck and kissed him passionately. When they broke away from each other she laughed, "I can't believe that you believed that lie."_

_"Well I didn't think my girlfriend would lie about something like that," Ryan said, glaring at her only half-seriously._

_"Hey, I wanted to surprise you," Taylor responded, pulling him close to her, so that their lips were barely touching._

_"I'm surprised," Ryan muttered into her lips._

_"Good," she replied, between kisses. After a while, she pulled back a little, so she was looking into Ryan's eyes. "I missed you so much Ryan. I'm never going to France without you again."_

_"That's good, 'cos I was actually planning for us to be joined at the hip from now on," he said._

_"That sounds amazing," Taylor said, unable to take the smile off her face._

_"You know what?"_

_"What?"_

_"We've still got a couple of hours before we have to be at the Cohens' for dinner," he said suggestively. "So I was thinking that we start implementing that joined-at-the-hip thing right now."_

_"Oh really?" Taylor said, raising one eyebrow. "Does this happen to occur in the bedroom?"_

_"As a matter of fact, it does."_

_"I was hoping so," she smiled seductively. She quickly kissed him on the lips and smirked, "Come on." She grabbed him by the hand and they ran to the bedroom._

* * *

_"Wow, I definitely missed that," Ryan commented, as Taylor rested her head against his chest._

_"Me too," she replied, snuggling into Ryan's arms with a contented sigh._

_"Taylor."_

_"Yeah?"_

_"You know how I was talking about us being joined at the hip?" he said._

_She looked up at him, "Uh-huh. A very good idea I might add," she grinned._

_"Yeah I thought so too," Ryan said. He hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Listen, I've been thinking a lot about us over the last few months and I've realized that I don't ever want to live without you in my life ever again-"_

_Taylor sat up suddenly, "Really?"_

_Ryan also sat up and nodded, "Which is why I want to ask you something. You can say no if you want, I mean there's no pressure to say yes or anything."_

_"Yes!" Taylor exclaimed, throwing her arms around Ryan and hugging him tightly._

_"You don't even know what I'm asking you yet," he said as they pulled back from each other slightly._

_"I think I do," she smiled. "You're trying to ask me if I want to move in with you."_

_"Uh, well that would be part of it," Ryan replied, "but it's actually something bigger than that."_

_"What are you-" she started._

_"Wait, don't say anything just yet okay," he interrupted, reaching over into the drawer in his bedside table. He then pulling out a little black, velvet box. Taylor gasped. "I love you Taylor Townsend," Ryan began, nervously opening the box to reveal a diamond ring. "Will you marry me?"_

_At this point, Taylor was in tears, "Really? You really want to marry me?" she whispered with sob._

_Ryan nodded, "Why? Don't you want to marry me?" He suddenly got very worried._

_"Of course I want to marry you!" she exclaimed happily. "My answer is yes Ryan. Yes, yes, yes! I would love to marry you."_

_He grinned. "A simple yes will do," he replied, recalling back to the day he had first asked her out and spoken those exact words._

_Taylor rolled her eyes, "You should know by now that nothing is ever simple with me," she smiled, kissing him passionately. "I love you."_

_"I love you too."_

_

* * *

_

"I seem to remember that we made it to the Cohens' place an hour late that night," Ryan smiled.

"Come on, I'd just come back from France and we were engaged, we had to make an entrance," Taylor replied.

"Good point," he agreed. "Anyway, I think everyone was just happy to see us together again so they weren't too mad about us being late." Taylor nodded in agreement.

"Mama! Dada!" Emily called out excitedly as she ran into the room as fast as she could. Lady followed close behind, wagging her tail happily.

"Baby, what's the matter?" Taylor asked as the little girl jumped onto the bed and sat down on Ryan's lap.

"What's up Em?" Ryan added.

"I can't sweep," she explained

"Sweep?" he repeated in confusion.

"Sleep," Taylor translated.

"Oh."

"Why can't you sleep sweetie, did you have a bad dream?" Taylor asked, brushing Emily's blonde curls off her face with her hand.

"Santa coming," Emily told her mother.

"You still have to go to sleep Emily," Ryan said. "In fact, Santa doesn't visit little boys and girls that aren't asleep on Christmas Eve."

Emily looked shocked, "No!"

He nodded, "Yeah. If he sees that you're awake he'll skip our house and we'll have no presents tomorrow."

"Oh no!" she exclaimed.

"That's right oh no," Ryan laughed. "Why don't you take Lady and run back to bed quickly, before Santa sees that you're awake. Daddy will come tuck you in in a minute."

Emily nodded quickly, before jumping off the bed and quickly running out of the room.

Taylor laughed, "That was mean."

"What? That's what my mother always told me to get me to go to sleep on Christmas Eve," Ryan replied. "Besides, it worked didn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah bask in your glory," she teased.

Ryan smirked, kissing Taylor quickly on the lips, "I'll be back in a second," he said, standing up from the bed. "Okay Emily, Daddy's coming. You better be in bed!" he called out as he left the room.

Taylor sighed happily, before lying down on her pillow and pulling the covers around herself with a shiver. She laid there peacefully for a moment, until Ryan came back into the room. "Emily's in bed," he announced, climbing into the other side of the bed. "I don't know how long she's going to stay there though."

"I wouldn't worry, I think you scared her quite a bit with the Santa thing," she replied sleepily. "I think we've seen the last of her tonight."

"I hope so," Ryan said with a yawn.

"Goodnight honey," Taylor said leaning over to kiss him. "Merry Chrismukkah."

"Merry Chrismukkah Taylor," he responded.

* * *

"Wow!" Emily exclaimed as she ripped open one of her presents. Ryan laughed, as he videotaped his daughter.

"What's that Emily?" Taylor asked from her place on the couch. The little girl shrugged. "It's a new dollhouse for your dolls silly!"

She grinned, "Yay! Daddy open?" she asked her father.

"A bit later honey, why don't you open the rest of your presents first?" Ryan replied. Emily nodded, grabbing another present from under the tree. "Wait a minute Emily, that's Mommy's present remember?"

"Oh, oops."

"Why don't you go give it to her?" he said, smiling at Taylor.

Emily jumped on the couch beside her mother and held out the present. "For Mommy."

"For me?" Taylor asked, as Emily nodded fiercely. She unwrapped the small box and lifted up the black velvet lid to reveal a necklace. "Oh it's beautiful Emily, thank you very much," she said, hugging her daughter happily. "Did you pick this?"

"Yep," she nodded.

"You did a very good job, I love it," she replied. "Now why don't you go give Daddy his present?"

"I got a present?" Ryan asked, turning off the video camera and placing it on the coffee table. He then took a seat beside Taylor.

Emily went over to the tree and began searching for the gift. Eventually, she found it and brought it back to her father, handing it to him excitedly, "Open it Daddy!"

"I'm opening it," he replied, trying to open the present as fast as he could.

"This wasn't my idea so don't blame me," Taylor said.

"Oh no, what is it?" he asked, removing the lid of the box. He pulled out two tickets. "They're tickets."

"Uh-huh," Taylor nodded. "Did you see what they're for?"

Ryan read one of the tickets, "Sky-diving? You got me sky-diving lessons!"

"Yeah, it was Summer's idea," she explained. "I got two tickets so you could take Seth with you."

"Something tells me Summer suggested this so Seth would have to jump out of a plane," Ryan said. "There's no way he's going to do it, he's scared of heights. He'll start crying like a baby."

"That's precisely why Summer and I thought of this," Taylor said. "We thought that you'd get to go sky-diving, and have something to tease Seth about for the next 50 or so years."

"Thanks honey," Ryan said, kissing her on the cheek. "Something tells me that this is going to be the funniest Chrismukkah present ever."

"You like it Dada?" Emily asked.

"I love it, thank you very much Em," he replied, giving her a quick hug. She then ran back to the Christmas tree and began opening the rest of her presents.

"Wow, look at her go," Taylor commented. "She's opening those presents like it's an Olympic sport."

"Yeah, I guess she's growing up," Ryan replied.

She nodded, "Too fast, unfortunately." Suddenly the phone rang, and Taylor reached over and grabbed it, answering the phone with, "Merry Chrismukkah!" she listened for a moment before continuing, "Oh hi Frank. Merry Christmas." She paused again, "Yeah Emily's having a great time opening all her presents. I'll just get Ryan for you. Bye." Taylor held out the phone to Ryan, "It's Frank."

He took the phone off her, "Hey," he said into the phone. "Merry Christmas."

As Ryan continued talking to his father, Taylor smiled, happy that Frank and Ryan were getting along well. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. She winced and grabbed her stomach.

Ryan noticed this and began to worry, "Taylor, are you okay?"

"I don't know it just hurts," she replied. She looked down at her stomach worriedly. "Oh no, Ryan I think I'm in labour."

"Frank, I'll call you back," he said into the phone, hanging up without waiting for an answer. "What do you mean you're in labour? Your due date's not for another month."

"I know, but with twins they sometimes come early," Taylor said, taking deep breaths in attempt to stay calm.

"A whole month early?" Ryan asked, starting to panic. She nodded. "Okay, we have to get you to the hospital," he said, standing up from the couch. "Oh no, what about Emily?"

"We'll have to take her with us," she replied. "Don't worry, we'll call Seth and Summer, and Sandy and Kirsten on the way there and get one of them to meet us there and they can take Emily."

"Okay, let's go," he said, leaning down to help her off the couch.

"Ryan, don't you think we should change first?" Taylor suggested. "We're all in our pajamas."

"Are you kidding? The babies are coming, there's no time to change!"

She laughed, "Honey, they're not coming right this second. Go put some clothes on and change Emily's clothes then we'll go okay?"

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Cos I don't know how to deliver a baby Taylor. If we don't make it to the hospital I don't know what we're going to to."

"Yes, I'm fine," she said. "Now go, quickly."

"Okay, come on Emily," he said, lifting her up into his arms. He then quickly made his way towards the stairs.

* * *

45 minutes later, Ryan and Emily rushed into the emergency room of the hospital. Ryan approached the nurses desk and set Emily down.

"Can I help you?" the nurse asked glumly, obviously annoyed that she had to work on Christmas Day.

"My wife's in labor, she's having twins," Ryan said.

"Okay, and where is your wife?"

He turned around, "What are you talking about she's right-" he suddenly realized that Taylor wasn't behind him. "She was here." Ryan said to the nurse, who gave him a strange look.

"You lost your wife?" she asked.

"No, I didn't lose my wife," he replied. "I just have to go find her." He picked up Emily again, and began to walk the way he came, only to see Taylor be pushed by in a wheelchair in the opposite direction by another nurse. "Taylor!" he exclaimed, changing directions so he was walking beside the wheelchair.

"Hi," she replied.

"Where'd you go?"

"I lost you back at the entrance to the hospital," she explained. "Luckily Susan here"-she gestured to the nurse- "was nice enough to bring me in."

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry honey," Ryan started. "I was panicking and-"

"It's okay, really," Taylor said as they approached the nurses desk. "Right now, I need you to calm down and try not to panic. Do you think you can do that?"

"Sure," he nodded.

"Name?" the glum nurse asked.

"Ryan Atwood," Ryan replied.

"That's great, but are you having the baby today?"

"No," he laughed nervously, "of course not. I didn't-I wasn't-"

"Uh, maybe you should ask me the questions," Taylor said to the nurse. "My name is Taylor Atwood. We called from the car, Dr Miller's expecting us."

The nurse typed something into the computer, then looked up, "Okay, Dr Miller has requested that you be put into Labour Room 4, which is a private room, for the time being. Susan will take you there now. Once you're in your room, the doctor will come and check on you."

"Okay, thank you," Taylor said, smiling politely as Susan began to wheel her away. Ryan followed, walking beside the wheelchair carrying Emily. Taylor looked up, "Ryan, are you okay?" He nodded. "There's no need to be nervous, everything's going to be fine," she said, looking up at him with a smile.

He smiled back, "Okay."

"Ryan!" He and Taylor looked up to see Sandy and Kirsten walking towards them.

Ryan looked down at Taylor. "You go see them, and I'll meet you in the room okay?" she said.

Ryan nodded, "I'll just be a few minutes. I love you." He kissed her gently.

"I love you too," she replied. "And remember, don't panic."

"Right," he said as Taylor was wheeled away. "That's easier said than done," he muttered to himself.

* * *

**Next chapter:** **the twins arrive! Any name suggestions? Boy and girl names would be great cos I haven't decided what the babies will be yet :D**


	10. A Chrismukkah To Remember: Part 2

**It's been FOREVER since I've updated this story, so I figured that I would just do a final short chapter to finish it off. I've only been writing Chuck and Blair (Gossip Girl) fanfictions lately so I may be a little out of touch with Ryan and Taylor's characters. If they seem a little out of character, that's probably why. I apologize if that is the case! Anyway, here's the last chapter of this story. Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed!**

* * *

Ryan looked down at his new baby daughter in his arms with a content smile. The identical twin girls had been born about an hour ago after an eight hour labor that had left Taylor completely exhausted. However, she wasn't too tired to get to know the two new additions to their family. She sat up in her hospital bed, cradling the other newborn in her arms lovingly. Taylor looked up at her husband and said gently, "Aren't they beautiful?"

"They are," Ryan agreed, glancing up at his wife with a smile. "Three girls," he remarked, shaking his head. "How are we going to raise three little girls without losing our minds?"

She chuckled, stroking the baby's cheek with her finger, "I'm sure we'll manage." She paused for a moment, before asking, "Are you disappointed that we had girls? I know that you were kind of hoping for sons-"

"Taylor," he interrupted, "I honestly could not be more thrilled to have two more beautiful girls."

"Good," she remarked happily, "Because they're certainly going to be a handful." Ryan nodded in agreement. "Just think of all the boys you're going to be fighting off when they're teenagers," she added with a smirk.

Ryan's eyes widened in alarm, "Boys?"

"Yep."

"No, no, no," he shook his head. "There will be no boys until they're thirty- maybe even thirty-five, we'll see how we go."

"I think that's a bit extreme, don't you?" Taylor asked with a chuckle.

Ryan shook his head, "Nothing is too extreme when it comes to our girls."

"Aw," she responded, her eyes filling with tears.

"Honey, why are you crying?" he asked, leaning over to kiss her on the forehead.

"You said our girls," Taylor sobbed happily. "We have girls Ryan."

"We have girls that need names," he pointed out, handing her a tissue from the box on the bedside table.

She sniffed, attempting to wipe her eyes with one hand, while holding the baby in her other arm. "Oh God," she murmered with a soft sob. "We haven't even discussed names yet. What have we been doing for the last nine months?"

"Don't worry," Ryan started, rubbing her back comfortingly, "We have plenty of time to pick out their names."

Taylor looked up at him and asked hopefully, "Do you have any ideas?" She looked down to the blonde baby is her arms, hoping that a name would come to mind.

He shrugged and admitted, "I have a few."

"Well you haven't discussed those with me," she retorted teasingly. "What are they?"

"I like Charlotte," Ryan replied, looking down to the sleeping bundle cradled in his arms.

She smiled and repeated softly, "Charlotte Atwood. I like it."

"This one is definitely a Charlotte," he commented, gesturing towards the baby he was holding with a nod of his head.

"How about Charlotte Kirsten Atwood?" Taylor suggested. Ryan looked up in surprise. "I think it would be a nice gesture. Kirsten would really appreciate it."

He smiled, before leaning down and asking his baby daughter softly, "What do you think of your name Miss Charlotte? Do you like it?"

"I think she does," Taylor nodded. "It's a beautiful name."

"Now we just need to name her sister," Ryan said, his eyes drifting down to their other newborn daughter.

Unlike her sister, the baby girl in Taylor's arms was wide awake and alert. Her blue eyes were looking around the room curiously and Taylor took that as a sign that this particular twin had taken after herself. She was always energetic, enthusiastic and eager to learn, qualities that this baby seemed to have inherited. She shifted the baby in her arms and wondered out loud, "What should we name you, baby girl?"

"Coming up with two sets of baby names is a challenge," he commented, trying to think of a name to suit the baby.

"I know," Taylor agreed. "Let's not go for rhyming names. I know people think it's cute to give twins rhyming names but the poor children will be teased constantly growing up."

"Nothing rhymes with Charlotte anyway," Ryan chuckled.

"Good point," she responded with a giggle. She gasped, a name suddenly coming to mind, "I know! What about Ava?"

"Ava Atwood?" he remarked, making a face. "Easy on the alliteration there Tay."

Taylor pouted, "But it's such a pretty name." She sighed, "Fine, no A names." She kissed the baby on the head and commented, "What a shame, I really liked April as well."

"What other names do you like?" Ryan asked. "Since I picked out Charlotte, you should get to pick out this baby's first name."

"Well we have an Emily and a Charlotte now," she started. "Emily, Charlotte and...Ava." She grinned as her husband rolled his eyes. "Ava is so perfect," she gushed. "Can we please name her Ava?"

He gave her a look that told Taylor that he was seriously considering giving in to her. "Hypothetically," Ryan began slowly. "If we were to name her Ava, what middle name would we give her?"

Taylor thought for a moment, before suggesting, "We could choose something Christmas-y since the twins were born on Chrismukkah?"

"Like what?"

"Holly, maybe?" she suggested. She struggled to come up with another Christmas-like name. "Noelle?"

Ryan made a face, "Eh."

"Well what do you suggest then?" Taylor asked with a sigh. "Our daughter needs a name."

"What about Grace?" he suggested after a moment of thought. "Ava Grace Atwood."

She grinned excitedly, "So we're sticking with Ava?"

Ryan returned the smile and responded, "Yes Taylor, I surrender." He peered down at the baby and commented, "She's obviously an Ava anyway."

"Thank you," Taylor responded as he leant over to kiss her. "I love Grace as a middle name by the way. Ava Grace works perfectly."

"So it's settled then?"

"It's settled," she agreed.

There was a knock at the door and the couple looked up to find Kirsten standing in the doorway with Emily in her arms. "Mommy! Daddy!" the toddler exclaimed, struggling against her grandmother, wanting to be put down.

"Someone is very eager to see you," Kirsten chuckled as she set Emily down. She ran towards Taylor's hospital bed, but stopped with a pout when she realized that it was too high for her to climb.

"Hi baby," Taylor smiled enthusiastically, reaching out to take the toddler's little hand.

"Up," Emily stated, looking to her father pleadingly. Ryan looked to Kirsten for help, seeing as his arms were currently occupied with holding Charlotte. She immediately lifted Emily up and set her down on the bed beside Taylor. "Mommy," Emily smiled.

"What do you think of the babies Emily?" Taylor asked, kissing the top of her daughter's head lovingly. "You're a big sister now, remember?"

"Sister?" she repeated.

"That's right," Ryan smiled, adjusting the baby in his arms so that his older daughter could see her. "This is Charlotte and that's Ava," he nodded towards the other baby. Emily looked between the two babies with a surprised look on her face.

"They're beautiful," Kirsten commented. Ryan and Taylor looked to her with matching smiles. "Congratulations."

"Thank you Kirsten," Taylor responded. "By the way, we named Charlotte after you. Her full name is Charlotte Kirsten Atwood."

The older woman looked surprised. "Really?" she asked, smiling warmly.

"It's my small way of thanking you for everything you've done for me over the years," Ryan explained. "I wish I could do more to show you how grateful I am-"

Kirsten shook her head and interjected, "This is more than enough. I'm touched." She gave Ryan a kiss on the cheek, before announcing, "I'm going to wait outside. You need some time alone as a family." He nodded and she left the room, leaving Ryan and Taylor alone with their three girls for the first time.

"How am I going to survive living with four girls?" Ryan chuckled, taking a seat at the end of Taylor's bed.

"You are extremely outnumbered," she remarked teasingly as Emily leant down to kiss Ava on the head. "Gently sweetie," she reminded the toddler.

"So, when are we trying for baby number four?" he asked, a smirk appearing on his face.

Taylor looked to him incredulously and retorted, "Hold your tongue mister."

* * *

**Please review!**


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